Anina, deepest coalmine in Europe, to be turned into museum

One of the deepest coalmines in Europe will be reopened, but not for industrial production, for tourists. Local officials work on a project to turn Well no. 1 into museum. The well was closed down in 2006 following an explosion that left seven miners dead and thus 200 years of mining have come to an end, tvr.ro reports.
Last year Well no. 1 was bought by the Anina city hall from the liquidator in order to be turned into a mining museum.
For two centuries Anina’s history was closely linked to mining, but ten years ago the coalmine was closed down for being unsafe and inefficient.
According to the project, tourist will descend by elevator to about 50 metres deep. The value of the project is estimated to EUR 4 million.

The coal mining industrial heritage is very significant in this area, with Austrian industrial architecture and pits still preserved, such as the Northern Pit (Anina Pit I), Pit II, Pit IV (next to the Terezia Valley). Coal mining activities began in 1792, after the first coal outcrop was discovered by Matthew Hammer.

Anina is a town in southwestern Romania, in Caraș-Severin county, also representing one of the most important localities in the South Carpathians for Jurassic fossils, both plants and animals, as the geological heritage here is particularly diverse and well preserved. In  2002, the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in a cave near Anina. Nicknamed “Ion din Anina” (John of Anina), the remains (the lower jaw) are some 40,000 years old.

The paleontological heritage of the area was uncovered by significant mining works, such as underground mines and open cast mines, such works permitting the three-dimensional studies of the continental deposits, a unique opportunity in Europe and in the world, until the unfortunate closing of the last major mine in 2006. Still, the sterile dumps of the former mines and the former open cast mines of Ponor and Colonia Ceha very are rich in plant material, and they represent the subject of local conservation, as preserved sites or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).