Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden

Erlebnisbergwerk Berchtesgaden - SalzZeitReise

Useful Information

Location:	Salzburger Straße 24, 83471 Berchtesgaden. A8 exit 115 Bad Reichenhall, B20 via Bad Reichenhall to Berchtesgaden, left onto B305. A10/E55 exit 8 Salzburg Süd, 160/B305. (47.638170, 13.016930)
Open:	MAY to OCT daily 9-17, guided tours every 10-15 minutes. NOV to APR daily 11-15, guided tours every 25 minutes. Closed Good Friday, Pentecost Monday, 01-NOV, 24-DEC, 25-DEC, 31-DEC, 01-JAN. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 22.50, Children (4-16) EUR 11.50, Children (0-3) free, Students EUR 20, Family (2+1) EUR 50.50, Additional Child EUR 6.50. Groups (20+): Adults EUR 20, Children (4-18) EUR 10.50. [2023]
Classification:	Salt Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	T=12 °C.
Guided tours:	L=800 m, D=90 min. V=400.000/a [2007] Audioguides:
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden, SÜDSALZ GmbH, Bergwerkstr. 83, 83471 Berchtesgaden, Tel: +49-8652-6002-0, Fax: +49-8652-6002-60, infoline: +49-8652-6002-20. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1193	start of salt mining at the Tuval near Schellenberg.
1194	salt mining at the Gollnbach in Berchtesgaden mentioned.
1517	salt mine Berchtesgaden founded by Fürstpropst Gregor Rainer, Petersberg-Stollen begun.
1564	Saline Frauenreuth in Berchtesgaden opened.
1803	the independent prince-provostry falls to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Ferdinand III..
1806	new owner is Austria.
1816	falls finally to Bavaria through the Treaty of Munich.
1816	start of guided tours for guests of the Kings of Bavaria.
22-DEC-1817	inauguration of the brine pipeline from Berchtesgaden to Bad Reichenhall.
1840	number of visitors first counted: 150 to 200 visitors per year.
1880	opened as a show mine for the public.
19-FEB-1927	brine pipeline shut down after almost 110 years of use.
1990	tunnel equipped for speleotherapy.
2007	redesign as SalzZeitReise.
2017	500th anniversary.

Geology

The salt deposits at Berchtesgaden are not as pure as many other salt deposits on earth. It contains about 50% of other rocks, locally called Haselgebirge. This problem is most elegantly solved by the so-called nasser Abbau (wet mining). Underground chambers are filled completely with sweet water, which dissolves the salt from floor, walls and ceiling. Soon the impurities in the salt, which are not soluble, deposit on the floor which prevents further solution on the floor. As a result the salt is dissolved solely on the ceiling, and the chamber starts to migrate slowly upwards, while salt is dissolved continually at the ceiling and the residuals are deposited on the ground. Brine with 33 % salt content is continuously pumped out and replaced by fresh water.

Description

The Salzbergwerk in Berchtesgaden (salt mine of Berchtesgaden) is a classical tourist destination. Located in the southeastern corner of Bavaria, it is surrounded by numerous world-class tourist spots like the world famous Königsee. However, most require good weather to be a pleasure, and so for probably a century many tourists decided to visit an underground sight instead during rainy weather. Unfortunately there are hundreds of other tourists who had exactly the same idea, so this is not really a good idea. The mine is now operated by a new management, and they updated the check-in completely. Instead of long rows, they sell numbered tickets for the tours. So after buying your ticket you are free to do something else, go to a restaurant or museum, while waiting for your scheduled starting time. And by the way: it is possible to pre-book tickets over the internet on their homepage.

The tour starts with taking on miners clothes, which is rather useful for the chilly, 650 m long train ride into the mine. The adit called Ferdinandberg-Hauptstollen ends in the Salzkathedrale (salt cathedral), a 17 m high chamber. Now the Spiegelsee (mirror lake), a traditional stop of the mine tour, follows. It shows first hand, how the salt is dissolved by the water. The water was pumped out only partly from the solution chamber, so the solutional forms in the ceiling can be seen and at the same time a lake of brine, 100 m long and 40 m wide, remained. It is crossed silently on a flat bottom boat, accompanied by the music of Peter Wolf, the famous Austrian musician, composer and producer, and a complex light installation.

A last traditional stop on the tour is the wooden slide. This strange installation is not intended for children, it was used since the Middle Ages by miners, to change from one level to the next below, while also being transported into the desired direction. It was also used to transport material and machinery. However, to the slide is optional, and it is possible to take a staircase at the side.

After 200 years in which the show mine was only minimally changed, a comprehensive redesign was carried out in 2007. The mirror lake and the wooden slides are unchanged, but most of the halls are now jazzed up with multimedia shows. The name was changed too, it is now called Erlebnisbergwerk Berchtesgaden (adventure mine) or simply SalzZeitReise (literally SaltTimeTravel). A nonsense which has since been recognised and reversed. The ceiling is used for an informative laser show which explains the technique used to mine the salt. The next chamber is called Salzlabor (salt laboratory) and explains the steps necessary to produce pure salt from the brine. The Schatzkammer (salt chamber) is a sort of futuristic exhibition on various aspects of salt relevant for our daily life. There is for example a box containing the same amount of salt as the human body.

The salt mine at Berchtesgaden is a working mine until today. On five different levels 20 such solution chambers are working, producing some 600.000 m³ of brine per year. Such a solution chamber is up to 160 m long, 12 m wide and 120 m high. Every day 1 cm of salt is dissolved at the ceiling, which means it may be used for 30 years, mining a 100 m thick layer of salt. This means a production of 1.100.000 m³ of brine per chamber during its lifetime.