Stara Kopalnia
Stara Kopalnia (the Old Mine Science and Art Centre) is a museum and cultural centre in Wałbrzych, housed in the historic buildings of the former Julia coal mine, which operated from the 1860s until 1996. A Museum of Industry and Technology opened on the site in 1999, and the full centre followed in 2014 after a major expansion; it was added to the European Route of Industrial Heritage in 2015. It presents mining history and technology alongside temporary exhibitions, workshops, and cultural events.
Now on view
7 exhibitions
MECHANICAL WORKSHOPS EXHIBITION
An impressive collection of several dozen machines, among them wood saws and mortising machines built at the end of the 19th century and used by miners until 1996, reminds us that work in the mine did not take place…
Engine Room of Shaft “Julia”
While the mine was in operation, access to the engine room was reserved only for a close circle of specialists who operated the multi-ton winding machines. Today it is a place open to all visitors of the Science and Art…
Underground World – Miners at Work in Pre-War Photographs
"Underground World – Miners at Work in Pre-War Photographs" is now open at Stara Kopalnia in Wałbrzych. The story of this exhibition, so precious to Wałbrzych, begins with pure chance at an antiques market in one of the…
They Survived Hidden in the Earth. The Prague Groats Hoard and Archaeological Artefacts
The exhibition “They Survived Hidden in the Earth. The Prague Groats Hoard and Archaeological Artefacts” is a new addition to the permanent, exceptionally valuable and fascinating display at the Stara Kopalnia Science…
UNDERGROUND ROUTE
The underground tour route is a several-hundred-metre section linking the stone haulage gallery that carried rock to the surrounding spoil heaps with a training adit, where aspiring mining apprentices once practised the…
Wałbrzych Solidarity
On 4 September 2016 we opened an exhibition commemorating the activity of the Wałbrzych “Solidarity”. The display, consisting primarily of private memorabilia of “S” activists, commemorates Wałbrzych's forgotten…
Mine History, Miners' Equipment and the Cultural Dimension of the Miners' Feast – Barbórka
The narrative of one of the main and most important permanent exhibitions at Stara Kopalnia focuses above all on the working day of the miner and the specifics of work at great depths. It therefore covers mainly the…