Photo: Aagnverglaser · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Besucherbergwerk 'Wismut-Stolln' und Altbergbau 'Hülfe des Herrn Fundgrube'

Show mine near Biensdorf (Lichtenau) with a Wismut exploratory adit and old silver mining – currently closed for renovation.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed. The Wismutstolln has been closed for renovation since 2022; no date for reopening is known. The Erzberg mining heritage site in the forest is freely accessible.

About the museum

On the wooded Erzberg near Biensdorf, numerous pits and spoil heaps bear witness to late medieval mining for copper, lead and silver. The ore veins were only a few centimetres thick, which is why many small shafts with short galleries were created here. In the 18th century the “Hülfe des Herrn Fundgrube” mine worked the veins from 1781 to 1789, after which mining shifted to neighbouring Krumbach.

The Wismutstolln is considerably more recent: it was driven around 1950 by SAG Wismut in the search for uranium ore. The exploration was unsuccessful, and the name merely recalls the company. During excavation the adit cut into the old adit of the Hülfe des Herrn Fundgrube.

A mining association founded in 1986, today’s “Hülfe des Herrn Alte Silberfundgrube” association, made the site accessible: in 1993 the level Wismutstolln opened as a show mine, in 1996 the Huthaus (mine office building) of the old Fundgrube was rebuilt, and since 1998 the old workings have also been gradually reopened. In the forest, the Erzberg mining heritage site is freely accessible, while the adits can only be visited on a guided tour. In 2022 the Wismutstolln was closed for renovation work.