Mining Museum of Slovenia

The museum project at Velenje, the principal centre of lignit-mining in Slovenia, originated in 1956-7, but the present museum in the old shaft (Stari jasek) was opened in 1999. Visitors are able to explore underground workings in one part of the mine, where there is a display relating to a disaster of 1893 when 18 men died in a methane explosion, and then to take refreshment in an underground canteen before going on to a second series of workings where more recent methods of mining, including hydraulic supports and mechanised cutters are exhibited. Exhibits on the surface include a miner’s house with an interior dating from the 1920s.