Saarländisches Bergbaumuseum

Discover the industrial heritage of Saarland at the Saarländisches Bergbaumuseum, a museum that’s dedicated to the region’s mining legacy. Surrounded by beautiful parklands, the museum is located in the Hindenburg Tower and follows the coal mining history of Saarland dating back to the 15th century.

It was August Ferdinand Cullmann, a lawyer from Zweibrücken and a liberal member of the Frankfurt am Main National Assembly, who in 1879 transformed the pit into the largest coal mine in Germany’s southwest. At the height of its op-eration, the mine had a workforce of more than 3000 people before closing its doors in 1959.

Begin your visit on the seventh floor of the museum to soak up the sweeping views of a landscape that has been shaped by more than 200 years of mining. Then follow the exhibits that detail the development of mining in the region and learn about the production of coke. Visitors are invited to experience “driving” a mining plant before discovering the social history of Saarland and its miners.

Be sure to explore the underground mine complex that features original machin-ery, with some still in operation to this day. You can follow one of the two his-toric rambling paths that lead to the remains of private pits or admire the photos on the Hindenburg Tower staircase that illustrate the original pits, sleeping quar-ters and daily life of the miners and their families. The museum is surrounded by picturesque gardens and lies adjacent to a disused mining tip that’s now topped by a statue of Saint Barbara.