Mining Museum in Gelnica and the Jozef Adit

The Mining Museum in Gelnica (Banícke múzeum v Gelnici) is the town museum of an old mining town in the Hnilec valley, among the Volovské vrchy, part of the Slovak Ore Mountains. It occupies the former town hall on Mining Square: the building was completed in 1802 using stone from the walls of the local castle; it grew out of a Renaissance core to which wings in the Theresian Baroque style were added, and a massive Baroque tower rises above the entrance.

The idea of collecting mining heritage in Gelnica was raised as early as 1766, under Maria Theresa, but it only came true in the 1930s. Leopold Gruss, head of the town school, began collecting objects from miners' families, and after his death the teacher Samuel Fabriczy obtained a building of its own for the collection – a former grain drying house and stable. The museum first opened in 1938, but it was closed again in March 1939. After the war, in 1948, the exhibition reopened; new exhibitions followed a renovation in 1963; from 1965 to 2005 the museum was a branch of the Regional Museum in Spišská Nová Ves, and since 2005 it has been run by the town.

What to see

• Mining – tools and simple but ingenious machines, a collection of miners' lamps showing their development, old mine maps, wooden models of ore-hoisting devices, working and ceremonial miners' clothing and a full-size model of a mine entrance.
• Smithing – in the 19th century the most profitable trade here was making nails and chains: local smiths forged 39–40 million nails a year.
• Guilds and town history – guild emblems, chests, seals and signs; among the most valuable exhibits are a Madonna and Child sculpture from the first quarter of the 15th century and Gyula Szentistványi's painting "Death of a Miner" (1927).
• New rooms – a "torture chamber" with a punishment bench (2017) and a memorial room for the museum's founder Leopold Gruss (2024); 3D glasses and animated films bring the work of miners and smiths to life.
• The Jozef adit and mining open-air museum in the Turzov district – a drainage adit more than 1.5 km long, closed in the mid-19th century when copper mining declined and opened to visitors in 2016. Next to it stand a unique 17th-century stamp mill (pochwerk), driven by water from the Turzov lake, and a masonry smelting furnace.

Practical information

Gelnica lies on the railway line in the Hnilec valley, and the museum is on the main square, a few minutes' walk from the centre. The museum opens on weekdays with a lunch break and a ticket costs €4 (reduced €2); the Jozef adit can only be visited by booking at least a week ahead and is closed in winter (details in the "At a glance" box). A visit to the museum takes about an hour, half a day with the adit. Groups should announce their visit in advance; on summer weekends large groups are admitted by appointment. The animations and 3D glasses will appeal to children.

Nearby: trails and peaks

Waymarked paths fan out from Gelnica into the Volovské vrchy: the route Tatarkov Kríž – Gelnica, station is close to the square, and from the station the path Gelnica, station – Kojšov sets off. The highest peak of the area, Kojšovská hoľa (1,246 m), is reached by the route Strieborná – Kojšovská hoľa. In summer you can end the day at the Ružín reservoir on the Hornád.

Official website: gelnica.sk

Photos: Investigatio, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.