Görbehalmi Bányamúzeum

Useful Information

Location:	Görbehalom. (47.670010, 16.499140)
Open:	All year daily . [2022]
Fee:	free. Donations welcome. [2022]
Classification:	Mining Museum Coal Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Görbehalmi Bányamúzeum, Hidegvízvölgy út 3., 9408 Sopron-Görbehalom, Tel: +36-99-354-188.
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

Geology

Description

Görbehalmi Bányamúzeum (Mining Museum of Görbehalom) is a private mining museum named after the tiny village where it is located. The area is a Hungarian enklave in Austria, a narrow extremity surrounded on three sides by the Austrian border. The mines here extended obviously across the border, deep below ground. The area has a long coal mining tradition and the museum of nearby Sopron has numerous mining related exhibitions in the area. So it's a bit strange that there is a private museum competing for visitors. We guess it works only because the area is quite popular, immediately to the north is the Neusiedler See, which is popular for bathing and for its wineries. And it is not far from Vienna, so there are even a lot of weekenders.

The museum looks rather un-miney at the first glimpse. There is no headframe and no ancient stone building which was used to store the mined silver and gold. Not even a railway station for shipping huge amounts of coal. It actually looks like an allotment garden settlement with a lot of dark brown wooden huts. It is the work of Sándor Szigethi, who collects mining related items for decades. The small village was home to many miners in nearby Brennberg, only 1.6 km from the Brennbergbánya (Brennberg Coal Mine).

With an exhibition of mining tools, but also with personal items and contemporary records the daily life and work of the coal miners in Görbehalom is presented.