Museum sights in Idrija
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Municipal Museum
The excellent Municipal Museum is housed in the enormous Gewerkenegg Castle on top of the hill to the west of Mestni trg. The collections, which deal with mercury, lace and local history, are exhibited in three wings centred on a courtyard. The rococo frescoes of plants, scrolls and columns framing the windows and arcades date from the 18th century.
Mercury (Hg) is the only metal that exists in a liquid state at room temperature. The silvery metal is extracted from the mercury ore - a bright-red mineral called cinnabar - by smelting at a high temperature. Mercury is a very heavy metal, much denser than iron, and in the castle's north wing, amid a jungle of minerals and fo…
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Anthony Mine Shaft
The Anthony Mine Shaft, a 'living museum' in the Šelštev building south of Trg Svetega Ahacija, allows you to get a feeling for the working conditions of mercury miners in Idrija.
The tour, lasting about 1¼ hours, begins in the 'call room' of an 18th-century building where miners were selected each morning and assigned their duties by the obergutman (supervisor). There's an excellent 20-minute video in several languages (including English) describing the history of Idrija and the mine.
Before entering the shaft, which was sunk in 1500 and led to the first mine measuring 1.5km long, 600m wide and 400m deep, you must don green overcoats and helmets with the miners' insi…
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