The Glasebach Pit (german: Grube Glasebach) is a

mining museum A mine, i.e. an industrial facility for the underground extraction of mineral commodities, has three operating phases: it may be open or running, or closed or it may be a working museum. Most mines are simply closed once they are no longer produc ...

and former pit in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

fluorspar Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

mining area near Straßberg in the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. It is run by the East Harz Mining Society (''Montanverein Ostharz e. V.''). The pit was founded under the name of ''Vertrau auf Gott'' ("Trust in God"). The mining industry in the area around Straßberg goes back to the time around the year 1400. At Heidelberg north of Straßberg, fluorite and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

were won and processed at a smeltery on the site on behalf of the counts of Stolberg. There was also flourishing mining activity on the Glasebach stream, which formed the boundary between the County of Stolberg and the Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg. After being abandoned for a while, mining restarted in the 18th century and continued, with interruptions, until the 1960s. Various mining artefacts are displayed in the museum, including the old wooden drainage outlet (''Grundablass'') of the Lower Kilian Dam (one of the oldest dams in Germany), salvaged in 1990 during renovations, after it had undergone long-term conservation work by the ''

Harzwasserwerke The Harzwasserwerke GmbH (; English: Harz Water Works Limited) is a major German water company and dam operator based in Hildesheim, located within the German federal state of Lower Saxony. Founded in 1928, the Harzwasserwerke were tasked with sup ...

n'' in

Clausthal-Zellerfeld Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort ...

. The

show mine A mine, i.e. an industrial facility for the underground extraction of mineral commodities, has three operating phases: it may be open or running, or closed or it may be a working museum. Most mines are simply closed once they are no longer producti ...

is checkpoint 175 in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking system.

External links

Official web presence
Underground mines in Germany Mining museums in Germany Silver mines in Germany Museums in Saxony-Anhalt Mining in the Harz Harz (district) Mining in Saxony-Anhalt Show mines {{Germany-museum-stub