Pernik is a village with a thousand-year history, but the history of modern Pernik as the industrial heart of Bulgaria begins in this place. We are located at the place where the first underground mine “Old Mines” was opened in 1891.
The mine worked until 1966. At the beginning of the 1980s, a group of Pernik miners visited the Wieliczka salt mine in Poland, which is an underground museum. This is how the idea was born to have such a museum in Pernik as well. The museum opened its doors in 1986. and so far it is the only one on the Balkan Peninsula and one of the few in Europe.
The museum is located in two of the preserved galleries of the “Old Mines”. The two galleries have a total length of 630 m. There are 30 exhibition niches that trace the history of coal mining for more than a century.
Exhibits: electric locomotive, battery-powered platform with a water barrel, due to the condition of the air in the galleries, one miner drank 5-6 liters of water per day; wagons with which the miners moved; electric locomotive “Siemens”, 1925 – with it the wagons filled with coal were taken away chamber 1 (left) – authentic coal seam; there are two figures of mining gnomes – gnomes are guardians of underground wealth and miners believe that these figures protect them from misfortunes; chamber 2 (right) – dry masonry from 1958 chamber 3 (left) – warehouse for explosives chamber 4 ( on the left) – a handcart and wooden carts with which the mined coal was exported until 1895; then the wooden trolleys are introduced; carbide lamp from 1902.chamber 5 (right) – scheme for blasting the face; chamber 6 (left) – viper mechanism for unloading the trolleyschamber 7 (left) – shunting machine (endless rope) – 1928.chamber 8 (right) – rubber conveyor belt, 1936.chamber 9 (left) – metal trolley and loading machines; chamber 10 (right) – loading machines and trolleychamber 11 (right) – loading machine chamber 12 (left) – combine harvester, 1936 at the bottom of the first gallery-electric locomotive “Siemens”, 1925. camera 13 – model of a horse from 1896. the carriage of coal by horses is introduced; in 1922 350 horses worked in the Pernik mines, of which 2/3 were completely underground; the multimedia hall – used to be a stable; chamber 14 (to the left after the multimedia hall) – wooden fasteners of the grill type chamber 15 (opposite the multimedia hall) – haspel and metal trolley This is the place where visitors are 50 meters underground; iconostasis of St. Ivan RilskiThe legend of St. Ivan Rilski – St. Ivan Rilski appears in a man’s dream, points to this place and says: Go and start digging. There you will find black gold. This is how coal was discovered. Years later, when the mine is already working, a group of miners are buried when the earth collapses. Legend has it that at that moment, when they were awaiting death, a man dressed in white appeared, carrying a lamp in his hand, and led them out. The man who dreamed of black gold says: I recognized it. This is St. Ivan Rilski, who came to save us. Since then, the miners believe that St. Ivan Rilski is their heavenly patron.
Some mines had underground chapels. From March 2012 in the Underground Mining Museum there is an iconostasis of St. Ivan Rilski.
Work time:
Winter opening hours (01 October – 30 April)
From Monday to Sunday 9:00 – 17:00
Summer opening hours (01 May – 30 September)
From Monday to Sunday 9:00 – 18:00
The museum is open for visits every day. It is visited by groups of 3 to 20 people.
Visits are every round hour. You can request a visit by phone: 0882 990 222
Entrance fees:
Entrance ticket: 5.00 BGN.
Pupils and students: 2.00 BGN.
Pensioners: 2.00 BGN.
Children and people with disabilities: 2.00 BGN.
Guided talk in Bulgarian is included in the ticket price.
Guided talk in English: 10.00
Combined ticket Exposition and Underground Mining Museum: BGN 6.00 Pupils, students and pensioners: BGN 3.00
Contacts:
Address: 2300 Pernik, Fizkulturna Street #2,
phone: 076 60 37 37
