Zonguldak Maden Müzesi

Zonguldak Mining Museum

Useful Information

Location:	Çınartepe Mahallesi Bülent, Ecevit Caddesi No:170, 67040 Zonguldak Merkez/Zonguldak. (41.447376, 31.814613)
Open:	All year Tue-Fri 9-17:30, Sat, Sun, Hol 10-18. Closed 01-JAN. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Mining Museum Coal Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	Ar=1,000 m².
Guided tours:	self guided, D=3 h. guide, D=90 min.
Photography:	allowed, no flash
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Zonguldak Mining Museum, Çınartepe Mahallesi Bülent Ecevit Caddesi No:170, 67040 Merkez/Zonguldak, Tel: +90-372-230-0333. E-mail: E-mail: Ttk Müzesi, Çınartepe, TTK Müzesi Yolu, 67040 Zonguldak Merkez/Zonguldak.
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

1822	coal discovered.
1842	beginning of coal mining by the Ereğli Coal Mine Company.
1848	Ereğli Coal Basin mapped and claimed by Sultan Abdulmejid I.
1992	290 miners were killed in one of the worst mining accidents in the country.
17-MAY-2010	30 miners die in a firedamp explosion at the Karadon coal mine.
09-DEC-2016	museum opened to the public by Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.

Geology

The coal was formed by plants during the Carboniferous. At this time the continents were together forming a single landmass named Pangea. In this area the climate was tropical, and the forests had abundant rainfall. During the Devonian the plants slowly changed by evolution, became bigger and produced more wood. As a result the first coal deposits are found in Late Devonian rocks, most of the oldest coal reserves on Earth were formed during the Carboniferous period. The forests grew in swampy basins, and when a flood deposited sand or silt, the plants were covered and could not decompose.

The coals at Zonguldak formed 350-325 million years ago. The Ereğli Coal Basin, now called the Zonguldak Basin, is the only basin in Turkey with mineable coal deposits in Turkey. It is roughly elliptical with its long axis oriented roughly southwest to northeast. Additionally, the town is located at the Black Sea and a harbour was built to ship the coal with minimal effort. The basin has two major periods of coal deposition, in the Paleozoic and in the Cretaceous.

The oldest sediments are the lower Ordovician Soḡuksu Formation, which is 700–1100 meters thick, followed by the lower Ordovician Aydos Formation, the upper Ordovician, Silurian, and lowermost Devonian Findikli Formation. The Ferizli Formation contains iron ore. The oldest coal bearing layers are in the Yilanli Formation, which is Visean in age, and consists of dolomitic limestone with calcareous black and gray shales. The Alacaagzi Formation contains economic deposits of coal, formed in coastal environments including lacustrine, fluviatial, and fan deposits. The following Kozlu Formation contains 19 coal seams totalling 30–32 m, followed by Karadon Formation which is similar, but contains less coal seams. The coals are bituminous.

The Zonguldak experienced deposition from the early Cretaceous through the Eocene. Limestones, mudstones, siltstones, and dolomites dominate, the reason why there is also karst and caves in the area.

Description

Zonguldak Maden Müzesi (Zonguldak Mining Museum) is the first and so far only mining museum in Turkey. Besides the museum building, there is a training center belonging to the TTK Occupational Safety and Training Department. It has an 700 m long educational mine tunnel for the students, which is now part of the museum. The (Türkiye Taşkömürü Kurumu (TTK), the state-owned Turkish Coal Corporation, is the mining company which operates the active collieries in the region. The new museum building, which was erected for the Mining Museum, is located in a garden which is partly used as open air exhibition space. The Mining Martyrs Monument was relocated from Zonguldak Port to the museum garden. It commemorates one of the worst mining accidents in the country in which 290 miners were killed.

The museum is dedicated to the coal mining history of the area. The visit starts with a 10-minute documentary video in the first floor, which also has a foyer, exhibition halls, meeting hall, warehouses and administrative unit rooms. The museum exhibitions are in the second and third floor. There are exhibitions on the geology of the coal formation, the coal mining, and the processing into coke and other products. Original mining equipment and tools, miners lamps, and personal equipment are on display. There are numerous models of mines and mining machinery and dioramas of miners working in the mine. The geological exhibition has a wide range of fossils which were found during the mining. Maps, pictures, and documents show the history of the mining. The museum is very modern and has displays with digital simulations, maps and pictures.

The first floor has an exhibition on the history of mining in the city. There is also a huge model named Zonguldak Basin made by students of “Semester Apprentice Course” which shows the geology of the deposit. The second floor shows surveying tools, rescue equipment, personal protective equipment. There are workshops and lavatory, manpower training publications and statistical yearbooks. The third floor explains the development of a coal deposit, the necessary conditions and the needed time, fossils of the era from which the coal originates. Also, the variety of products which are made from coal are explained.

The educational mine tunnel beneath the museum is used for a mine tour. It starts with a simulated shaft trip down to a depth of 600 m and gives the feeling of entering a real mine afterwards.

The economy of the city Zonguldak is based on coal mining for 200 years now. The income was the reason for a steady growth of the city. There are, on the other hand, an enormous amount of mining accidents, with numerous dead miners. Between 2000 and 2009 25,655 accidents occurred in Turkish Coal Corporation mines. Prime Minister Erdoğan said in 2010, visiting the site after an accident with 30 dead miners "people of this region are used to incidents like this ... the fate of this profession". He also called protests against unsafe working conditions a "provocation".