Музей по рудодобив и минно дело

Muzeĭ po rudodobiv i minno delo - Madan Museum of Ore Mining and Mining Industry

Useful Information

Location:	1 Yavor St., 4900 Madan. (41.49833, 24.93979)
Open:	closed for renovation. Crystal Hall "Rhodope Crystal": Summer Tue-Sat 9-18. Winter Tue-Sat 8-17. [2024]
Fee:	closed for renovation. [2022]
Classification:
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Madan Museum of Ore Mining and Mining Industry, ul. "Republika" 2, 4900 Madan. Mine-Museum "Spoluka", ул. Перелик 1, 4900 Madan. Crystal Hall "Rhodope Crystal", 1 Yavor St, Madan, Tel: +359-894393896. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1958	mining museum opened to the public.
1984	mineral exhibition opened to the public.
1980s	renamed the "Museum of Mining and Ore Extraction".
2002	old owner Gorubso-Madan mining enterprise donates all exhibits and equipment to the Madan municipality museum.

Description

Музей по минно дело и рудодобив (Madan Museum of Ore Mining and Mining Industry) was opened in 1957. It shows the history of mining in the Madan region. The central exhibition is the Родопски кристал (Rhodope Crystal Hall), which is a spectacular mineral collection with 581 mineral specimens.

In the city Мадан (Madan) exists a very long mining history, the first mines were operated in Sharenka Cave during the Bronze Age. It also had a mining museum which is dedicated to this long history. After the museum was neglected for decades, it was closed at least ten years ago. Finally, the exhibits were moved to the tourist information center in the city. In 2019, a project started to renovate and to revive the cave, the museum, and the mineral exhibition, and to create a show mine. Сполука (Spoluka) is the new show mine, the highlight is an electrical mine train. As far as we know, the project still exists, but obviously Corona with the collapse of all tourism was not very helpful.

According to Google Maps, there are now three sites [2024], which are only a few meters apart in the center of Madan city. Кристална зала „Родопски кристал“ (Crystal Hall "Rhodope Crystals") is located at ул. Явор 3. On the opposite side of the road is рудник-музей "Сполука" (mine-museum "Spoluka") at ул. Перелик 1. And next door is Музей по минно дело и рудодобив (Museum for mines and mining) at ul. "Republika" 2. The only one we could actually see on street view is the first, the mineral exhibition. Feel free to send us updates with first-hand info by email.

It seems the most interesting site is the "SPOLUKA" Underground Mining Museum which is a show mine with an underground tour located in the middle of the city. The mine was mined out in 1972 and closed subsequently. In 2016, the mine was donated to the municipality and an underground gallery of 140 m length was transformed into an underground mining museum. It was financed by the Cross-Border Cooperation Program "INTERREG VA Greece - Bulgaria" 2014-2020, and co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund. But it seems it was not yet opened to the public [2024].