Bergwerkmuseum Rossgang

Useful Information

Location:	Am Roßgang 5, 34260 Kaufungen. (51.2909274, 9.6434904)
Open:	APR to OCT Sun 11-17. [2026]
Fee:	free. [2026]
Classification:	Lignite Mine Replica Underground Mine
Light:	Electric Light
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Bergwerkmuseum Rossgang, Am Roßgang 5, 34260 Kaufungen, Tel: +49-5605-802-1420. museum@kaufungen.de Regionalmuseum „Alte Schule“, Schulstraße 33, 34260 Kaufungen-Oberkaufungen, Tel: +49-5605-802-1420. museum@kaufungen.de
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

1820	horse engine works built.
1881	horse engine decommissioned.
1945	Original capstan disappears.
1947	Reopening of the Freudental colliery.
1970	Closure of the Freudental colliery.
1971	The capstan house was renovated.
1973	Capstan with rope drums and turning levers rebuilt from old designs and reinstalled.
1983	The Rossgang was opened to the public after the completion of restoration work during a ceremony attended by the surviving former Kaufungen miners.

Geology

Description

Bergwerkmuseum Rossgang (Rossgang Mining Museum) is often misspelled as Roßgang Mining Museum. It is actually located on the street called Am Roßgang, but the official spelling includes a double ‘s’. The name clearly derives from the fact that horses used to walk in circles here. The building is a historic horse-driven engine with a cantilevered roof, where, from 1820 onwards, horsepower initially replaced human muscle power. Two horses pulled the waggons filled with lignite up from the tunnels. The power transmission system, shaft entrance, tools and equipment have been preserved and form part of the exhibition. The horses turned a vertical well tree in the centre, onto which the hauling rope for the coal wagons was wound. The mechanism that redirected the rope into the shaft extension has also been preserved.

The museum has a permanent exhibition on the history of mining in Kaufungen. Lignite was mined here in various collieries.

Outside the museum stands a model of a pre-industrial alum works. Alum crystals were extracted in the Oberkaufungen area; these were a sought-after raw material for dyeing, tanning, paper production and medicine.

The Museum im Pferdegöpel is a branch of the ‘Alte Schule’ Regional Museum in Oberkaufungen. Unfortunately, the main museum is currently closed for refurbishment. In the basement of this museum there is a ‘visitor’s mine’, which is actually a replica of a mine designed by former miners.