Fell Exhibition Slate Mine

The Fell Exhibition Slate Mine is a furnished as a visitor mine former slate mine in the former slate quarries Barbara and hope in the former fur - Thommer mining site Nossernbachtal, about 20 kilometers east of Trier. Next to the entrance of the mine, there is an information center with a mining museum. A pit trail opens up further twelve mine shafts and a former quarry. On the other side of the valley, a large former quarry and a brake mountain can be seen. The program of the visitors' mine include cultural events at the entrance and in the mine itself, the complex is located directly on the slate Wackenweg.

The Mine

The visitor mine consists of two superimposed typical roof slate mines ( mines ) from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The upper tunnel hope is documented since 1850, the lower lugs Barbara connected by a 100 meter long stairwell together since 1908. Both mines are.

The guide below ground takes a good hour and goes through long tunnels and trails and through several stopes. In the stopes Bergmann figures documenting the dangerous work of the pre-industrial shale mining. The visitors will be provided in a clear way an impression of the hard work in the shale mining from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. In the stopes visitors see the mighty screes ( " Prass " ), the so-called mountain walls, and the extraction sites of the blue-gray slate roof.

The slate was mined underground by " Schrämen " and " wedging " or by drilling and " shooting " (blasting ) and initially funded in large blocks as possible after above ground. Over days, the large blocks are divided into small blocks ( " decapitated " ), which were then digested with the gap iron into thin plates. With the slate scissors or with the " bifurcated " (slate hammer ), the plates were finally cut into the right shape ( " prepared" ) and came as roof slates ( the coveted " blue Leien " ) in the bargain. In the winter months the slate miners saw no daylight for months. Therefore, 70 meters below ground is now in the Fell Exhibition Slate Mine in an imposing stope an artificial " sun " on.

On September 20, 1991, the development association was founded Fell Exhibition Slate Mine eV and 1994 began the expansion by the municipality coat. The system operated by the municipality fur visitor mine was opened on 1 May 1997 and until 2013 attended by more than 270,000 visitors.

The information center / Mining Museum

Before Fell Exhibition Slate Mine, this newly built and opened in 2013 information center / museum. It was interactive and is accessible to the public. Visitors can individually in the subjects geology ( formation of the shale ), slate quarrying earlier / day, immerse the lives of 16 different bat species in the region and the wine. Here you will find uaseltene and strange devices from shale mining and viticulture, it is, amongst others, Following " Gezähe " ( Bergmann tool ) issued: pimples and wedge hewing, splitting iron and slate roof stencils, Köpfkeile and various hammers slate and slate scissors. In addition, there is to see helmets ( " hats " ), Mine " Geleucht " ( miner's lamps ), Blasting and caisson drilling equipment ( jackhammers ). Furthermore tools from the roofing ( Haubrücken, roofers hammers, nail puller, etc.) and the local viticulture ( Hotten, Vineyard knife, fermentation funnel, Vineyard spraying, etc.) issued and to see 12 different Eindeckungsarter the roof covering. A video shows the latest shale mining in Central Europe in the Katzenberg near Mayen in the Eifel. A special place in the museum occupies the statue of Saint Barbara in 1897. The St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners. 22 different tram (also from Luxembourg, France and Belgium ) document the track-bound promotion in various mining sectors. The tram exhibition and the information center / museum are the way freely accessible during the opening times of the visitors' mine.

The pit trail

The Mine Trail is a trail of slate mining and performs the Nosserntal, past the relics of the former roof slate mining: terraced slopes, old tram, desolate fallen Leienpfade that served the slate transport earlier, adit holes which place the former mining testimony and past portraits of the saints Barbara, who was worshiped by the miners as Nothelferin and patron.

Before the adit entrances are ten slated information stands. The slate covers are made of different types of coverage. Based on the pit image ( = ground plan of the mine ) in the green information boards you can get an idea of the size and complexity of the tunnel system.

Culture and Customs

The main vectors of the mining tradition in the former mining sites fur and Thomm are founded in 1955 but with earlier chapels traceable back to 1871 Bergmann Chapel fur and the miners' band Glück-Auf Thomm 1927 eV

Every year in fur and Thomm on the second Sunday of Advent ( the Sunday after the feast of Saint Barbara, December 4 ) by mining called the traditional parade of miners' band, Mountain Parade instead. Approximately every two years, is celebrated a Mettenschicht before Christmas.

In the summer take place at irregular intervals cultural events before the mine entrance. A highlight was the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the visitors' mine on 14-15. July 2007 with several concerts and a large mountain parade.

The Feller Jagdhornbläser play in the season when the weather often on Sunday mornings before mine.