Altböckstein Mining Museum in Bad Gastein offers visitors a
unique opportunity to get acquainted with the history of the
development of gold mining in the region.
This story began
more than a thousand years ago with a gold rush that swept the area,
hunters for precious metal came here from all over Europe. In 1342,
Archbishop Heinrich von Pirnbrunn, who was then the ruler of
Salzburg, issued a decree on the ordering of gold mining.
Huge reserves of ore and well-established ties with South German
trading houses contributed to the flourishing of the region, for
example, only in 1557 the prospectors managed to extract 830 kg of
gold and 2723 kg of silver. But this could not go on for a long
time, gradually the ore reserves were depleted, and mining was
stopped.
In the 17th century, Archbishop Markus Sitticus
reopened the case with the aim of providing at least some employment
to the unemployed miners. New developments made it possible to
re-establish the extraction of the precious metal. However, it was
not possible to reach the previous records, and today only the
museum can tell about the former splendor.
It is located in
two adjacent buildings - Salzstadel and Seumerstal. In the first,
the working tools of the miners are exhibited, and in the second,
the reconstruction of an industrial ore grinder.
In summer,
the doors of the museum are open daily from 15.00 to 18.00, and
every Tuesday and Thursday special excursions are held, telling
about how the gold and silver mining was carried out here.
The museum is part of the historic mining settlement in
Altböckstein. The two buildings Salzstadel and Säumerstall house
historical tools and machines from the former gold mining in the
Gastein Valley. The salt barn was restored in 1979 and 1980. As a
result, the stallion stall was also renovated and integrated into
the museum.
While the miners' small tools and numerous
illustrations are shown in the Salzstadel, replicas of a poacher can
be seen in the Säumerstall.
The Rathausberg am Naßfeld power
plant is attached to the museum.
In 1977 the demolition of
the settlement was prevented by placing it under protection. The
museum was founded by Peter Sika at the suggestion of the mining
historian Fritz Gruber, who lives in Böckstein.