Förderverein Bergbaumuseum Mechernich e.V.

About the mining museum

The Bergbaumuseum Mechernich operates at the Grube Günnersdorf site a municipal museum with an attached visitor mine in Mechernich in the district of Euskirchen. The sponsoring body, the Förderverein Bergbaumuseum Mechernich e.V. founded on 17 March 1992, is dedicated to promoting culture, local heritage and local history and documents the history of lead ore mining in the Eifel. The offer includes museum and mine tours led by knowledgeable pit guides, treasure hunts in the visitor mine for children and adults, special tours for people with disabilities as well as a mining history hiking trail. The exposed lead mine open for viewing illustrates the geology, mining and ore dressing methods of different mining eras; exhibits include, among other things, a model of the Mechernich lead deposit at a scale of 1:100. Grube Günnersdorf, with its 51.4 metre deep shaft, belonged to the mining operational area of the Gewerkschaft Mechernicher Werke; with its closure in 1957, lead ore mining in the Eifel came to an end. All tasks are performed on a voluntary basis.

Site

Mechernich

Processes

Visitor mine tours (pit guides), Museum tours, Treasure hunt in the visitor mine (flashlight tour for children and adults), Special tours for people with disabilities, Mining history hiking trail (educational trail), Group offers with registration

Materials

Lead ore (galena/lead-zinc ores), Malachite (copper carbonate), Buntsandstein, Iron oxide and manganese hydroxide concretions (Tutten), Lead ore (galena), Iron oxide and manganese hydroxide concretions

Certificates

Barrier-free museum building

Founded

1992

Industries

Museum / culture and local history, Tourism (Eifel), School and children's groups, History of lead ore mining

1. 01

   Museum visit with briefing by pit guides

2. 02

   Equipment with protective helmet

3. 03

   Tour of the visitor mine

4. 04

   Return to the surface

Geology and deposit

Sites

Grube Günnersdorf

DE

Mining museum and visitor mine

Materials

Lead ore, malachite, Buntsandstein, Tutten

• Visitor mine with mine tours
• Museum building with exhibition
• Model of the Mechernich lead deposit (scale 1:100)
• Mining history hiking trail

Exhibits

Inside the production

Quality of the tours

Tours are accompanied by knowledgeable pit guides; visitors are equipped with protective helmets before entering the mine. The museum is barrier-free, and special tours for people with disabilities are possible by arrangement.

History of Grube Günnersdorf

1. 1938

   Grube Günnersdorf put back into operation after approx. 55 years of standstill; depth of the Günnersdorf shaft increased to 51.4 m

2. 1943

   Mining closed down again; from October, conversion into an air-raid shelter

3. 1944

   Used as a hospital bunker (pharmacy, operating room)

4. 1953

   Flotation sludge flushed into the mine

5. 1957

   Closure of the mining operation G.M.W.; end of lead ore mining in the Eifel

6. 1989

   Start of rehabilitation of the first level (until 1994)

7. 1992

   Founding of the Förderverein Bergbaumuseum Mechernich e.V. on 17 March

8. 1994

   Constituent founding assembly of the support association on 27 October

9. 1995

   Start of operations of the visitor mine on 1 April

10. 2024

    Election of a new board at the annual general meeting