Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers - salt mine Merkers - Thuringia - Germany - 05

Merkers Adventure Mines are a visitor attraction in Krayenberggemeinde in the

Wartburgkreis Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Wer ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, owned and operated by K+S AG of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. They lie near the village of Merkers. The mines have a long history of salt extraction, and hold the record for concealing large amounts of

Nazi gold Nazi gold (german: Raubgold, "stolen gold") is gold possessed by Nazi Germany. Much of the focus of the discussion is about how much of this was transferred by Germany to overseas banks during World War II; the ruling Nazi party executed a policy o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A hundred tons of gold and many works of art presumed to be

stolen Stolen may refer to: * ''Stolen'' (2009 Australian film), a 2009 Australian film * ''Stolen'' (2009 American film), a 2009 American film * ''Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story'' (2010 film), a film based on the real life kidnapping of baby Kahu Durie ...

were discovered by the liberating

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1945.

Context

The Merkers Mine drops 860m below the surface into the ' Werra-Revier' band of

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

bearing salt. There, at a constant temperature of 28C, are 4600 kilometers of tunnels. Visitors are lowered in the hoisting cage at over 10m/ sec (30 km/h) down to the 500m galleries. There they are driven on 20-kilometre long tour of the mine, seeing an underground mining museum, a room where in 1945 the 'Gold und Devisenreserven der Deutschen Reichbank' dubbed the Nazi gold was stored, the world's largest underground

bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. The primary function of BWEs is ...

, simulated blasting and a

laser show A laser lighting display or laser light show involves the use of laser light to entertain an audience. A laser light show may consist only of projected laser beams set to music, or may accompany another form of entertainment, typically mus ...

in the world's largest underground

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...

. Also, in 1980 a crystal grotto was discovered. Here visitors see enormous

salt crystal Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of Salt (chemistry), salts; salt in the form of a natural crystallinity, crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. ...

s, some over 1 m in size.

Popular culture

The salt crystals of Merkers Mine are featured in Episode 2 of the BBC series, '' The Code''. Documents stolen (fictionally) from the Nazi hoard in the mine form the basis for the plot of the

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton (; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Fo ...

novel ''

XPD ''XPD'' is a spy novel by Len Deighton, published in 1981, and set in 1979, roughly contemporaneous with the time it was written. It concerns a plan by a group of former SS officers to seize power in West Germany, in which they intend to publi ...

''.

Gallery

Manet's Wintergarden 19450425 NARA 5757184.jpg, Manet's Wintergarden in safe keeping in 1945 Thuringia Merkers Mines asv2020-07 img06.jpg, The Gold Room today Thuringia Merkers Mines asv2020-07 img05.jpg, The "concert hall" Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers 2010 011.JPG, Salt crystals in the 1980 Crystal Grotto

References

External links

Webseite zur 700-Jahr-Feier des Ortes Merkers mit geschichtlichen Informationen

Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers
Slideshow.

Salt mines in Germany Wartburgkreis European Route of Industrial Heritage Anchor Points {{Thuringia-struct-stub