The Wenzel Pit (german: Grube Wenzel) is a former silver mine in the Zinken Frohnbach in

Oberwolfach Oberwolfach ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Obberwolfä) is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the site of the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics, or Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach. Ge ...

in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

in southern Germany. The pit had its heyday in the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

, but has been a

show mine A mine, i.e. an industrial facility for the underground extraction of mineral commodities, has three operating phases: it may be open or running, or closed or it may be a working museum. Most mines are simply closed once they are no longer produc ...

since 2001.

History

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

has been mined here since the early 14th century; but after several decades they could find no more and the

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

was closed. Not until about 1760 was silver found again in the mineshafts under the direction of the principality mining clerk (''Bergschreiber''), Kapf. This prospecting work discovered several silver deposits and mining recommenced.

Today

After the founding of the Show Mines Friends Association (''Förderverein Besucherbergwerke'') in 1997 the old silver mine was restored in 1999 and developed for visitors. In 2001 the work was completed and the show mine was opened to the public.

External links

Wenzel Pit on the Oberwolfach website

Photographs of the Wenzel Pit
{{coord, 48, 19, 12, N, 8, 12, 21, E, region:DE-BW_type:landmark, display=title Show mines Former mines in Germany Silver mines in Germany Museums in Baden-Württemberg Black Forest Buildings and structures in Ortenaukreis