Saarländisches Bergbaumuseum Bexbach e.V.

Description

The Saarland Mining Museum is located in the flower garden of Bexbach; its exhibition rooms are housed in the Hindenburgturm, which also serves as an observation tower. Large mining machines such as locomotives, roller bodies and newer hydraulic shields complement the indoor displays in immediately adjacent outdoor exhibitions in the garden.

The museum was founded in 1934 and has been continuously expanded since then. Its focus is exclusively on hard coal mining in the Saar from its beginnings in the 15th century until the mid-1980s. Because large-scale original exhibits occupy the available space, the permanent exhibition’s chronological coverage ends there; technology from subsequent years is presented additionally via DVD projections.

A reconstructed underground mine shows the working life of Saarland miners. It illustrates, in chronological sequence, the types of mine supports from timber structures through steel props to hydraulic shields. Via a compressed-air system, working tools such as a pneumatic drill or a coal rotary drill can be put into operation during guided tours; visitors can try these devices themselves, which has a particularly strong effect on children and young people.

The Hindenburgturm is divided into levels: one level is devoted to the eventful administrative and territorial history of the Saar mines up to their present administration by Deutsche Steinkohle AG. Other levels cover coke production, mining of other mineral resources, transport below and above ground, as well as social history with a model of a miner’s house from the late 19th century. Technical and safety developments, the regional mining history of Bexbach and a geology department follow, before the wash house and lamp room form the access to the underground facility. In a separate annex a special exhibition examines the effects of mining on nature and on reclamation.

The flower garden itself offers designed areas such as the Luxembourg and the Japanese Garden, an herb garden, water-lily ponds and biotopes, as well as a footpath to the former spoil heap Monte Barbara, whose plateau is crowned by a statue of Saint Barbara.