Location of Ore Mountain Mining Region in Czech Republic
The Ore Mountain Mining Region (officially Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region;
German: Montanregion Erzgebirge,
Czech: Hornický region Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří) is an
industrial heritage landscape, over 800 years old, in the border region of the
Ore Mountains between the German state of
Saxony and
North Bohemia in the
Czech Republic. It is characterised by a plethora of historic, largely original, monuments to technology, as well as numerous individual monuments and collections related to the historic mining industry of the region. On 6 July 2019, the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region was inscribed as a
UNESCOWorld Heritage Site, because of its exceptional testimony to the advancement of mining technology over the past 800 years.[1]
Description
The Ore Mountain Mining Region is a region roughly 95 kilometres (59 mi) long and 45 kilometres (28 mi) wide, on the border of Germany and the Czech Republic, containing a large density of historical mining sites and monuments.[2] Because of the intensity and continuous nature of the mining in the region, the entire landscape is heavily influenced by mining, from transportation to water supply and urban planning.[2] The region includes many well-reserved relics from derelict mines, including the mines themselves, mine shafts, smelters, and
hammer mills.[3]
The World Heritage Site comprises 22 mining sites and monuments, 17 in Germany and 5 in the Czech Republic. The largest of them is Abertamy – Boží Dar – Horní Blatná – Mining Landscape with an area of 2,680 ha (6,600 acres). The list includes:[4]
From the first discovery of
silver ore in 1168 in
Christiansdorf in the territory of the present-day borough of
Freiberg, which is part of the
Freiberg Mining Field, mining was carried out uninterruptedly in the Ore Mountains until 1990.[3] During that time, several different metals were extracted from the region.
Silver was the first metal mined in the region (particularly around
Freiberg), and the region was a world-leading producer of silver ore during the 14th through 16th centuries.[3][2] On the
Bohemian side of the mountains,
Krupka grew into a prominent mining town, extracting silver,
tin, and later
iron,
lead,
copper, and
mercury. [3] After the superficial deposits of silver and tin began to decline in the 16th century, the region became famous as ta world producer of
cobalt, a status it maintained until the mid-18th century.[2] Finally,
anthracite and
uranium were extracted in the 19th and 20th century, and were engines for the economic development of Saxony.[3] Today deposits of
indium,
tungsten, tin and
lithium are being investigated for their economic potential.
Gallery
Vereinigt Zwitterfeld zu Zinnwald, tin mining museum in
Altenberg