Salgótarján mining museum

The Salgótarján Mining Museum is Hungary's first underground mining museum, which opened on April 30, 1965 in the section system of the former József slope mine in its original condition. In the former foreman's apartment of the neighboring mining colony, the historical exhibition opened in 1985, the surface presentation in 1986, and the renovated museum exhibition in 1995. It operates as the exhibition venue of the Salgótarján Dornyay Béla Museum. Its maintainer is the city of Salgótarján.

The historical exhibition

The brown coal area of Nógrád county is largely located in the northern part of the Mátra and the northeastern part of the Cserhát. Three large enterprises: Salgótarján Coal Mine Ltd., North Hungarian United Coal Mine and Industrial Company Ltd., and Salgótarján Ironworks Society mined coal in the northern and central part of the coal basin.

In the exhibition, the miner's ceremonial attire, accessories, contemporary tools, lighting devices, pit and shaft pictures, industrial photographs, maps, statistics and documents make the development of mining in the county understandable.

The surface presentation

In the courtyard of the exhibition hall a skansen was created, where locomotives, wagons, and freight cars were placed. On three narrow-gauge railway lines the use of the circulating transport devices is interpreted by a map placed on the building wall.

The underground mining museum

In this part of the museum complex visitors can experience the mine shafts. At the museum exit there is a sculpture by István Szabó depicting a miner. On the left side of the slope mine one can see a timber frame, on the right side the bell base of the Szék village mining settlement, as well as a clapper used to signal shift changes.

The adit-like inclined shaft was deepened in 1937 to remove the remaining coal pillars of the former József shaft and the abandoned lower level. Part of these sections were prepared for museum presentation. They tried to preserve the mining character, and in sections nearly 280 metres long the visitor can obtain a complete overview of a mine and its equipment.

In the underground mining system today museum machines, the network of sections, the portal, the entrance adit part, the inclined transport section, the air section largely preserve the original conditions, representing 19th–20th century Nógrád coal mining.