Besucherbergwerk Schieferstollen Josefsglück

Useful Information

Location:	Langgrube, 57555, Brachbach (VG Kirchen). From Siegen or Betzdorf B62 to Mudersbach, turn off towards Brachbach. In the village, follow Marienstraße to the end. 200 m walk. (50.808838, 7.947989)
Open:	MAY to OCT 1st Tue of month 10-12. [2026]
Fee:	free, donations welcome. [2026]
Classification:	Slate Mine Geopark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus
Light:	Electric Light
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=1.5 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Besucherbergwerk Schieferstollen Josefsglück, Heimatverein "Glück-Auf" Brachbach, Langgrube, 57555, Brachbach (VG Kirchen). E-mail: Achim Müller, Tel: +49-2745-1363. Christoph Bätzing, Tel: +49-171-2213586.
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

1896	Slate mine opened.
1903	first slate mined.
1925	Slate mine closed.
1944-45	Tunnels used as air-raid shelters.
1945	adit reopened and operated as a sideline.
1948	Slate mine closed.
09-JUN-2011	show mine opened to the public.

Geology

This thin-slabbed slate is known as Hornschiefer or, locally, as Brachbacher Schiefer. It is particularly well suited for cladding house walls and roofing. Although the entire area is known as the ‘Slate Mountains’, slate is by no means found everywhere, economically viable slate is only found in a few places. Here in the Siegener Sattel, grained (< 0.02 mm) loose to slightly consolidated, dark to light grey, bluish, reddish or red, and occasionally variegated sedimentary rocks can be found. These are classified according to their degree of consolidation or degree of metamorphism. The shale was deposited 350 to 400 million years ago on the floor of a sea that stretched across large parts of Europe. Under pressure from the overlying strata, the clay sludge was transformed into claystone. During the Variscan orogeny, it was folded and, as a result of intense lateral folding pressure, split into thin, parallel lamellae.

Description

The Besucherbergwerk Schieferstollen Josefsglück (Josefsglück Slate Visitor Mine) is a former small-scale mining operation where, from 1896 to 1925, a small number of miners extracted slate from three exploration adits. It is situated south of the village of Brachbach, in the Kirchen municipal association, Altenkirchen district, and is run on a voluntary basis by the ‘Glück-Auf’ Brachbach local history society. Guided tours are available by appointment for groups of 5 or more and last 90 minutes. It was not possible to confirm definitively whether the exhibition mine is open on the first Tuesday of every month; to be on the safe side, we recommend contacting them in advance. The visitor mine is a GeoPoint within the Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus GEOPARK.

Slate has been mined here for centuries, as evidenced by a large number of old adits. The Wernsberger Erbstollen, for example, is over 300 years old and has become a landmark of the municipality.

The Josefsglück slate mine was first excavated in 1896, as documented by a permit issued by the ‘Interessenwald’, which owned the land. An ‘Interessenwald’ was a cooperative form of communal forest ownership. It started to produce slate in 1903 and continued until 1925.

In 1944, as Allied air raids intensified, the people of Brachbach remembered the disused slate quarry. It was used as an air-raid shelter. At times, up to 100 people sought shelter from the bombs in the tunnels.

Whether or not its use as a bunker had brought back memories, from the end of the war onwards the tunnel was operated by Clemens Bätzing as a sideline. However, this lasted only three years, the slate was simply quarried for reconstruction of war damages. The slate was used as a barter commodity in exchange for food and clothing. In 1948, however, the mine was closed down for good.