They laboured like animals: bent double in the low galleries, their lungs full of dust, in constant fear of the walls collapsing, or a gas explosion. But despite all this, they were as proud as any farmer cultivating his own fields. For every collier was allocated his own particular underground patch. The more coal he could extract, the better it was for himself and his loved ones. Since 1989 the Rhondda Heritage Park in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales has been a living monument to the colliers and their families. In two old pithead houses belonging to the former Lewis Merthyr pit, visitors can now experience multimedia shows recounting the dramatic history of the region, its mining disasters, the rebellions and the struggle for a decent wage. A reconstructed village depicts the everyday life inside the narrow colliery settlement, and an exhibition in the old fan house is devoted to the special role played by the women in the community. And then it is time to go underground: complete with helmet, miners lamp, and a local collier. After that a simulated ride through a tunnel on a modern pit railway "catapults" visitors back into the light of day.

"The heavy feet of tyrants have made our shoulders bleed” sang striking Welsh coal miners in 1910, thereby rejecting their pit owner’s offer as insufficient for a settlement. Indeed, between 1908 and 1912 strikes took place in collieries all over the South Wales coal region of Glamorgan. Just 100 years earlier the area had been an untouched rural idyll. And then came the Industrial Revolution, at its spearhead was Glamorgan with its huge reserves of coal. For the inhabitants of the region and this meant work and bread: it also meant self-sacrifice, sickness and a feeling of utter powerlessness in the face of the colliery owners who regarded their miners more as objects than human beings. Industrialisation took a grip on the Rhondda Valley in the 1850s, and in next to no time there were no less than 66 collieries lining the narrow course of the river. One of the first was the Lewis Merthyr colliery. It was named after W. T. Lewis, the later Lord Merthyr, who bought up the colliery in the mid-1870s and laid the foundation stone for its financial success. In 1880 the Bertie shaft was sunk; 10 years later this was followed by the Trefor shaft. From now on the two shafts made up the backbone of the mine; around 1900 they were producing about one million tons of coal a year. When they were fused with the site of the Tymawr colliery in 1958 the situation changed radically. For the old shafts were now only used to transport men and material. In 1983 the colliery was closed down. The former pithead buildings, including the lamp room, the chimney, the fan house and the old warehouse now make up the core of the present-day museum which opened its doors in 1989. The exhibition was expanded during the following years: in 1991, with the addition of multimedia shows on the history of the mining region; in 1993 the "Energy Zone", a large adventure play area for children, was opened; and in spring 1994 the visitor centre was able to welcome its first guests. The final addition – and simultaneously the high point - was the opening of the highly ambitious underground tour, with special effects, in the autumn of the same year.