South Tyrol Museum of Mining - Prettau Mine Museum

About South Tyrol Museum of Mining - Prettau Mine Museum

At Prettau the South Tyrol Mining Museum offers guided tours through the historic galleries of the copper mine and the climate tunnel.

In the exhibition mine in Prettau (Predoi), 15 km. (9 miles) away from Kornkasten (Cadipietra) there is an exhibition mine with over twenty tunnels and shafts through ore deposits at an elevation of 1,400 to 2,100 m. (4,600 to 6.900 ft.) The visit includes a ride on the mining rail in the St. Ignaz shaft (1.1 km. / 3/4 mi.) from which cement copper is still extracted.In one of the tunnels there is also the so-called climate tunnel, in which a microclimate has formed due to certain conditions, which is said to be particularly good for people with respiratory problems and diseases. Guided tours through the tunnel with an expert guide are also part of the excursion into the dark underworld of ore mining. A asthma therapy station was established in 2001.

It is assumed that copper ore has been mined in the Ahrntal since the 15th century. The St.-Ignaz-Erbstollen was converted in the 90s and is now a show gallery; part of the South Tyrolean Mining Museum.
The starting point is 1,500 metres above sea level. A signposted miner's path leads along the gallery, past the individual mouth holes and up a gallery. A path that takes visitors back in time. Back to the beginnings of mining in Prettau. The old mine railway was renovated so that the visitors, equipped with a mine lamp, helmet and rain jacket, can drive into the tunnel on two team wagons. In some places scenes have been recreated which illustrate the former mining work.