MECHANICAL WORKSHOPS EXHIBITION

The former mechanical workshops served the mine's operational needs in machining and thermal metal production and processing. All repairs, maintenance and reconditioning of underground and surface equipment were carried out here, as well as the shaping and production of spare parts. An impressive collection of several dozen historical machines from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and later periods is housed in a building erected in 1870-1900 (1872) in the style of simplified neoclassicism, with a distinctive division into three sections: the milling shop, the forge and the locksmith's shop. The important role of the workshops reminds us that work at a mining plant did not take place only underground, and that deep coal extraction would not have been possible without adequate technical support from the surface. The exhibition includes milling machines, drills, planers, mortising machines, hearths, shears, mechanical hammers, threading machines, lathes, presses, bending machines, as well as saws and grinders. A fascinating display of printing machines is also present here, including printing presses, shears and guillotines. The exhibition is complemented by interactive multimedia panels that allow visitors, among other things, to test their knowledge of the secrets of the blacksmith's craft and to listen to recollections of miners from the former Thorez Hard Coal Mine.