Besucherbergwerk Kamsdorf

Useful Information

Location:	Grubensteig 4, 07334 Unterwellenborn. A9 motorway exit 26 Triptis, B281 to Saalfeld 32 km, exit Kamsdorf L1105. (50.6441379, 11.4696234)
Open:	NOV to APR Mon-Thu, Sat, Sun, Hol 14. MAY to OCT Mon-Thu 10, 13, 15, Sat, Hol 13, 15, Sun 13, 14, 15. [2025]
Fee:	Adults EUR 14, Children (5-14) EUR 8, Children (0-4) free, Students (-26) EUR 12, Disabled EUR 12, Families (2+) EUR 36. Groups (12+): Adults EUR 13, Children (5-14) EUR 7. With train: Adults EUR 17, Children (5-14) EUR 10, Children (0-4) free, Students (-26) EUR 15, Disabled EUR 15, Families (2+) EUR 44. Groups (12+): Adults EUR 16, Children (5-14) EUR 9. [2025]
Classification:	Copper Mine Silver Mine Iron Mine Lead Mine Cobalt Mine Nickel Mine Limestone Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=90-120 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Besucherbergwerk "Vereinigte Reviere" Kamsdorf, Grubensteig 4, 07333 Unterwellenborn/OT Kamsdorf, Tel: +49-3671-645621, Tel: +49-3671-523156, Mobil: +49-170-3409361. 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

1500 BC	Mining of copper ore in open-cast mines for the production of bronze.
23-MAR-1994	Kamsdorfer Verein zur Pflege der Bergbautradition e. V. founded.
06-OCT-2001	Show mine opened to the public.
2010	Guided tours with ride on mine railway on the 1st level.

Geology

The border between the Thuringian Basin and the Thuringian Slate Mountains runs almost west-east between Gehren and Triptis. In the north, the strata in the basin are almost horizontal and consist of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, marl and limestone. In the south, the Thuringian Slate Mountains are a basement with rocks from the Palaeozoic (Palaeozoic), i.e. Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and lower Carboniferous. This area is a fault zone in which many rocks that actually lie much deeper were bent upwards by collision and thus reached the earth's surface. The variety of rocks in this area is so great that different raw materials have been mined throughout history.

Description

The Besucherbergwerk "Vereinigte Reviere Kamsdorf" is located east of Saalfeld near Großkamsdorf on the edge of the large Kamsdorf open-cast mine. Copper, silver and iron ore were mined underground here for 300 years. The Kamsdorfer Verein zur Pflege der Bergbautradition e.V. (Kamsdorf Association for the Preservation of Mining Tradition) has set up a mining museum in the historic replacement shaft 04. Mining tools and equipment, mine surveying instruments and minerals from the active operating period are on display here. The original shaft installation of Shaft 04 and the rebuilt winding machine in the historic engine house can also be visited. There are guided tours of the mine, with and without a ride on the mine railway. However, the times listed are only the possible tour dates; in order for a tour to take place, you must register, and there must be enough participants.

Mining here began as early as the Bronze Age. On the surface, one could find the bright green, blue and red copper secondary minerals malachite, azurite and cuprite. These were mined as early as 1500 BC, and one of the most important bronze processing centres in what is now Germany was established here. The Zechstein had fissures through which rainwater seeped, making it relatively easy to mine in open pits without water drainage problems. Later, at the beginning of the Iron Age, brown iron stones were also mined. However, these were of much less importance because iron ores, which could be smelted using the simple bloomery process, were much more common. Mining was interrupted several times for long periods and later resumed. There was a long pause during the Migration Period. It was not until the High Middle Ages that mining revived, but this time silver ores were the most profitable. The developing monetary economy was based mainly on silver as a currency metal. However, silver ores without significant copper admixtures, which were necessary for this purpose, were only found in a few veins of the Roter Berg south of Gorndorf and Röblitz. They were already largely exhausted by the late Middle Ages. In the 15th century, the Saiger process was invented, which separated copper and silver in a metallurgical process and yielded copper and silver suitable for coinage. This resulted in a renewed upswing in mining.

The last phase of mining was characterised by the Industrial Revolution. As early as the beginning of the 18th century, brown ironstone, and from 1828 also spar ironstone, was mined. Ironworks had existed since 1300, and in the 15th and 16th centuries they flourished in the valleys of the Thuringian Forest and the Franconian Forest, where they utilised water power. Finally, in the 19th century, the "Vereinigte Reviere Kamsdorf" trade union was established under Prussian management. It was later acquired by the Bavarian ironworks company Maximilianshütte. The ores and later the iron-rich limestone were mined underground between 1869 and 1958. From 1949, open-cast mining was increasingly used. The open-cast mine is still in operation today, although building materials and limestone marl are now extracted.

In addition to the museum and the guided tours of the show mine, Kamsdorf offers two other highlights. Firstly, there is the Montanlehrpfad, a 5 km long mining trail with various information boards explaining the geology, mining and mining history. There are viewpoints into various open-cast mines, tunnel mouths and various preserved or disappeared traces of mining, such as the Pochwerk in the Wutschental valley. And finally, there is the Revier Café in the historic Revierhaus.