Bergbaumuseum und Besucherbergwerk Käpfnach


Useful Information

Location: At Horgen, near Zürich, at Lake Zürich.
N3 Zürich-Chur, exit Horgen, main road to Horgen, follow road to Käpfnach.
By ship: Zürichseeschiff S 2 or S 8 oder to Horgen, or Zürichseefähre from Meilen to Horgen. From harbour take bus 134 or 135 to stop Käpfnach.
There is also a S-Bahn from Zürich to Käpfnach.
(47.253320, 8.613530)
Open: APR to NOV Sat 13-16:30, tours 13, 15.
[2022]
Fee: Adults CHF 15, Children (12-17) CHF 10, Children (6-11) CHF 8.
Groups: Adults CHF 350, School class CHF 250, for the whole group.
[2022]
Classification: MineCoal Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension: T=13 °C, L=80,000 m.
Guided tours: D=120 min. Deutsch - German With reservation English Français - French
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Kohlenmagazin Museum & Bergwerk Käpfnach, Bergwerkstrasse 27, 8810 Horgen.
Reservations: Sekretariat, Tel: +41-1725-3935. 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

1784 start of coal mining.
1941 mining revived.
1947 mining finally ended.
1982 Bergwerksverein Käpfnach (mining society Käpfnach) founded, to manage the show mine.

Description

Visitors to the former coal mine Käpfnach meet at the Bergbaumuseum (mining museum) in Käpfnach, in the Bergwerkstrasse (mine road). The visit includes a visit to the mining museum and an underground tour into the mine with the electric mine train. Because of the size of the train, the number of visitor on the tour is limited to 20 persons.

Käpfnach was the biggest coal mine in Switzerland. But Switzerland is not particularly famous for coal mines. The coal layer was only 48 cm thick, and the coal is rather young, which means it contains a lot of water, sulfur and other components. This means the coal is of rather low value, and the mining of the coal is not paying. Only during World War II, when the value of the coal raised because of the war, the mining was revived and up to 250 miners worked here. This ended soon after the war.

The whole mine is rather low, which is a matter of efficiency: if the adits are too low they are not very useful to transport coal and material, but higher adits are more expensive. So the adits were built as low as possible and small miners had some advantages. Today's visitors have to duck very often during a visit, and the helmet, which is common on show mine tours, is extremely important on this trip.