Mining Museum in Nowa Ruda

The Mining Museum in Nowa Ruda is a private museum housed in the former Nowa Ruda Coal Mine. Besides the surface exhibition, it includes an Underground Tourist Route, visited with a guide, and the tour ends with a ride on a vintage mining railway.

How the museum was created

The idea of setting up the facility was born in 1992, based on the Training Adit of the Mining School Complex. The concept of the museum was approved by the authorities of Nowa Ruda.

Surface exhibition

The building of the former control room houses an exhibition devoted to coal mining in Nowa Ruda: its history and organisation, as well as historical mining tools, work clothing, and models of former buildings and machines. Visitors can also see the structure of the "Lech" shaft here.

Underground route

The underground part of the museum includes a tourist route 700 metres long, laid out in the "Lech" adit in the former "Piast" mining field. Because the adit runs horizontally into the mountainside, the whole route is flat and does not require descending into the ground. The tour shows the technologies used to secure the tunnels, methods of extracting and transporting coal, and mining machines, including a cutter-loader and a coal plough. The exhibits also include fossils of Araucaria and the so-called "ul" ("beehive"), a former miners' toilet. The tour programme also includes a meeting with Skarbnik, a figure from mining folklore, guardian of the mine corridors and of treasures hidden in the earth.

Railway ride

The tour ends with a ride on an electric mining railway that can carry up to 36 people, on a track with a gauge of 430 millimetres and a length of about 200 metres. The train, made up of three original four-axle carriages, is pulled by a German battery-powered Jung locomotive from 1963. The museum grounds also display a train from the "Słupiec" mine, with a different track gauge.

Origin of the museum

The creation of the facility was a grassroots initiative linked to the closure of the mining industry in Nowa Ruda. Using the existing training adit made it possible to open the tourist route without building new workings, and the town authorities approved the idea as a way of preserving the memory of Nowa Ruda's mining past.

Who it's for

The route is visited with a guide and takes about an hour, including the railway ride. The route is also designed with children in mind, and the museum offers packages for organised groups.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Obozowa 4, Nowa Ruda
• Opening hours in September and October: 9 am-5 pm, last entry at 4 pm, hours are worth confirming before your visit on the museum's website
• Getting there: Nowa Ruda, Kłodzko County, the museum lies on the route to the nearby Museum of Minerals
• What to expect: a guided tour, a walk through an underground corridor and a ride on the mining railway, the route is also suitable for children