Maria Mine
Former coal mine in Wałbrzych, Poland
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The Maria Mine (Kopalnia Maria; Hans-Heinrich- und Marie-Schacht; also Tiefbauschacht) was a coal mine in Wałbrzych, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland. It formed part of the historic Waldenburg coalfield and was associated for many years with the House of Hochberg.[1][2]
Historic view of the Maria Mine shafts in Wałbrzych | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Wałbrzych |
| Voivodeship | Lower Silesian Voivodeship |
| Country | Poland |
| Production | |
| Products | Bituminous coal |
| Type | Underground |
| History | |
| Opened | before 1875 |
| Closed | late 1930s |
| Owner | |
| Company | House of Hochberg |
The mine is particularly notable in the history of industrial architecture in Lower Silesia because its two principal shafts formed a paired Malakoff-type ensemble linked by an intershaft building.[3]
History
Archival series in the State Archives record the Hans Heinrich und Marie Schacht from 1864 onward, showing that the mine complex already existed by the mid-19th century.[1] Architectural research further notes that the complex was in existence by 1875 at the latest.[3]
In historical sources, the mine appears under several names, including Maria, Tiefbauschacht, and Hans-Heinrich- und Marie-Schacht.[1][3][2] For many years it remained in the hands of the Hochberg family.[2]
By the interwar period, the site was described as one of the best-preserved “old mines” in the Wałbrzych area.[2] Coal extraction was halted in the late 1930s because of mining damage in the urban centre of Wałbrzych.[2] After 1945 the mine was not reopened; its underground workings were later used as a water reservoir for neighbouring industry, including the nearby Bolesław Chrobry mining complex.[2]
The surface complex survived for some time after the Second World War, but most of the site was removed in the 1960s.[2] Parts of the former mine area are now occupied by later urban development, including the vicinity of the Galeria Victoria shopping centre.[2]
Shafts
Architecture
Maria Mine is one of the notable lost examples of Malakoff-type shaft architecture in Lower Silesia. According to Wioletta Wrona-Gaj, the complex consisted of two paired shaft towers—Marie Schacht and Hans Heinrich Schacht—which were connected by an intershaft building and designed with matching stylistic features.[3]
This paired arrangement made the site unusual in the regional context and gives it lasting importance in studies of 19th-century mining architecture in the former Waldenburg coal basin.[3]
Associated ropeway
A separate material ropeway served the mine and carried waste rock from the pit area to a nearby spoil tip. Historical photographs document the installation in 1913, while archival records refer to a Luftseilbahn at Tiefbau in 1912 and to the demolition of the spoil-tip ropeway in 1935.[4][5][6]