A visit to the Wettelrode show mine for the whole family is possible again from Wednesday. Descriptive information is provided about the working conditions of miners in the past.
Wettelrode (dpa/sa) - After water ingress in the Wettelrode visitor mine (Mansfeld-Südharz district) in the spring, regular visitor tours will be available again from Wednesday (10 August). After maintenance work, the facility is open again from Wednesday to Sunday, complete with the mining museum and show mine. "At the stations of the standard route, the working conditions of the miners are explained to guests and families up close," said tour guide Thomas Wäsche. "This also includes the trip on the mine train." Until now, only groups who had booked in advance had the opportunity to drive into the shaft for mining tours lasting between five and eight hours.
"With the complete reopening, the show mine hopes to be able to build on the number of visitors from the years before the pandemic," said Wäsche. Before Corona, around 25,000 people came to the Wettelrode show mine every year. "Especially now, with the high summer temperatures, a visit underground with a constant 14 degrees is very pleasant," said the tour guide.
"The natural groundwater reservoir above the mine reached the show section at the end of February through a washed-out hole, a so-called karst quarry, which caused temporary flooding. The water rose slowly and there was no danger to people.
Around 800 years ago, people began digging for copper ore in the Mansfelder Land. In Wettelrode, the miners worked with interruptions from 1871 to 1990. The iron winding frame from 1885, together with the winding machine from 1922, is the oldest functioning facility in Germany. Between 1951 and 1990, around 820,000 tons of copper were produced in the GDR.
