Visitors don helmets, lamps and miners’ coats before boarding an original mining train.
The oldest coal mine in Slovakia is reopening its doors to miners once more. However, this time they will not return underground to work, but to act as guides, taking visitors through the history of mining in the Upper Nitra region.
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Located in the town of Handlová in western Slovakia, the former coal mine has been turned into a mining museum. Visitors can explore its oldest and most impressive section, where coal mining started 117 years ago.
“We miners are becoming tour guides; it’s something we never thought possible,” said Erik Sombathy, head of the Association of Mining Societies and Guilds of Slovakia, as quoted by the regional newspaper MY Horná Nitra.
