Amethyst World Maissau

Amethyst - quartz coloured purple by iron impurities and radiation - occurs at Maissau in a vein that has been traced for several kilometres through the granite, and a section of it about forty metres long has been excavated and left open in a covered pit, which is the reason the place exists as an attraction: you look at a working seam in the ground rather than at specimens in cases. The colour runs from pale lilac to deep violet in the same face. Around it are a mineral museum with material from Austria and abroad, a garden, and a washing area where visitors sieve gravel for stones to keep, which is what most children come for. The stone was worked here historically for jewellery and the local geology is granite of the Bohemian Massif.

What to look for

• A forty-metre amethyst vein - the seam exposed in the ground under cover.
• Colour bands in one face - pale lilac through to deep violet in the same rock.
• A mineral museum - Austrian and international specimens alongside.
• A washing area - sieving gravel for stones to take home.

When to go

April to October; the site reduces hours in winter. Half a day.

Good to know

It is a single seam plus a museum - two hours covers it. The panning is charged separately and aimed at children. The Weinviertel location needs a car.

Nearby

Eggenburg is west; the Kamptal and Langenlois are south-west.