After six years of renovation and modernization, the Oelsnitz Mining Museum (Erzgebirgskreis) will reopen this weekend as the "Coal World". According to district administrator Rico Anton (CDU), around 30 million euros have been invested in the historic site of the former Kaiserin Augusta shaft. This has resulted in a new, modern permanent exhibition comprising around 450 exhibits from the museum's extensive collection. According to museum director Jan Färber, this also includes numerous pieces that were previously slumbering in storage and were not on display before.
The new presentation uses multimedia elements to explore 800 years of coal mining in Saxony and also sheds light on the development of coal from forests in the Carboniferous period 300 million years ago. Hard coal was then an important driver of Saxony's former economic rise in the age of industrialization, emphasized Färber.
Copyright 2025, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
