Schwaz Silver Mine

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Schwaz was one of the largest mining operations in Europe and by some accounts produced the majority of the world's silver, which is why the town of eight thousand held some twenty thousand people at its peak and why the Fugger banking house was so heavily involved. The silver financed Habsburg politics and paid for imperial elections; copper came out of the same ground. The visit begins with a ride of about eight hundred metres into the hillside on the Sigmund-Erbstollen mine train, sitting astride a narrow bench in a low tunnel, and then a walk through galleries with the water wheels, ladders and hand-cut faces of the period, at a constant twelve degrees. The scale of the hand labour is the point.

The main sights

• A mine train into the hill - eight hundred metres in on a narrow bench.
• Hand-cut sixteenth-century galleries - the workings, ladders and water wheels.
• A silver operation of European scale - the ground that financed Habsburg politics.
• A constant twelve degrees - the temperature underground in any season.

When to go

All year; the mine holds a steady temperature. Half a day.

Things to know

Guided tours only, at set times, and it is cold and damp - overalls and helmets are provided. The train tunnel is low and enclosed; not for anyone claustrophobic.

Nearby

Tratzberg castle is close; Hall in Tirol and Innsbruck are west.

Key facts