Best Mines That Became Museums
Some of the world's finest museums are former working mines — preserving headframes, galleries and machinery on the actual ground where they were used.
Big Pit, Blaenavon, Wales
Closed 1980, museum 1983. Free entry, ex-miner guides, 90 m descent.
Zollverein, Essen, Germany
Closed 1986, UNESCO 2001. The Bauhaus colliery turned cultural campus.
Lewarde, France
Closed 1971, museum 1984. The largest mining museum in France.
Idrija, Slovenia
Closed 1995, UNESCO 2012. A complete town-and-mine ensemble.
Wieliczka, Poland
Active extraction ended 1996, museum since 1722 in some form. The salt cathedral.
Falun, Sweden
Closed 1992, UNESCO 2001. The Great Pit.
Rammelsberg, Germany
Closed 1988, UNESCO 1992. A thousand-year museum.
Kongsberg, Norway
Closed 1958, museum since same year. Royal silver.
Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine, USA
Mine-car tours of Appalachian bituminous.
Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Australia
Reconstructed gold-rush working pit at Sovereign Hill.
Plan your visit
Every site mentioned is plotted, with opening hours and accessibility notes, on our interactive map.
Explore on the map
Use the interactive map to filter by country, mineral and accessibility — or to find the closest mining heritage site to wherever you happen to be.