Mining Cultural Landscape Erzgebirge

The red Tower of Death

I visited the Red Tower of Death on my way back from Karlovy Vary to Prague. I don't recall ever visiting a similarly ugly VHS. The tower is located near the prison and the structure itself has no aesthetic value at all.

The tower is a simple seven-story brick structure. In the 1950s it was used as a sorting plant for uranium ore to be exported to the Soviet Union. The tower was part of a labour camp for political prisoners. The prisoners, mostly opponents of the communist regime, clergymen and airmen who served in the RAF in World War II, had to transport uranium ore to the seventh floor, where the ore was poured down through a system of sieves. From the description it is probably obvious why the tower is called the Tower of Death. The workers were exposed to radiation that was rapidly destroying their health. However, deaths on the death tower itself were rather rare. Sick prisoners were usually transferred to other prisons.

Only the rough structure of the tower remains, with a small exhibition inside commemorating the fate of the prisoners. Visits are only possible with a guide. Visiting is only possible on weekends during the summer holidays (July, August). Do not expect crowds of tourists. 

My review is only on the Red Tower of Death and mirrors Walter’s visit, although he got closer. I only got as close as the fence at the back of the industrial park for a view.
The site itself is closed however I do have some information if you want to visit. There is a standard brown tourist sign on the highway identifying the site. You turn after the industrial park. The site was closed for me and you cannot see the tower from the entrance due to the height of the fence. A sign on the door says the it will open after June 1 2023 but only on Saturday and Sunday for tours at 10am and 1pm. Tours are required but are free. 
Personally, I wouldn’t go into that dusty uranium scented tower but I would have liked to have at least approached the building. 

I visited this WHS in Summer 2019 en route from Zatec to Augsburg, Germany. I focused mainly on the Czech side even though I drove through other minor sites on the German side too.

Coming from Zatec, you can't but notice the huge power plant (which is quite of an eyesore!) before getting to Jachymov. Like the rest of Northwestern Czechia, Jachymov has definitely seen better days even though the inscribed sites are quite in good condition with several information boards in English too. The view from the winding road leading to Jachymov is that of an old mining town like many others on the list.

The most interesting site in Jachymov is the Dul Svornost mine which has been operating since 1530 and is one of the oldest complexes in Europe. It is also the last functioning mine in the Jachymov region. Originally, the mine produced silver, cobalt, arsenic and bismuth. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was a source of radium ores and uranium, hence the peculiar monument of Jachymov just before entering the town. Since 1964 the mine has been used to provide therapeutic radon water (which is believed to be up to 13,000 years old!) for the Jachymov spa. For those that are more keen on industrial heritage sites, there are several trails along what is known as the Stribirna Stezka/Silberstrasse.

From the TWHS “Ore Mountains mining landscape” that has a great chance to be inscribed on the list this year, I visited historical center of Freiberg on the German side, and all five sites nominated by Czechia: (i) Jáchymov mining landscape, (ii) Abertamy – Horní Blatná – Boží Dar mining landscape, (iii) Krupka mining landscape, (iv) Měděnec (Měďník) mining landscape, and I saw (v) Red Tower of Death from distance of few hundreds meters going by bus from Jáchymov towards Ostrov and Karlovy Vary.

Despite a slight over-representation of mines on the list, I have to admit that the phenomenon of mining played a key role in the development, economy, and also scientific research of Central Europe. It resulted in knowledge and wealth that were eventually distributed worldwide. Among the mining WHSs that I visited (Goslar-Rammelsberg in German Harz Mountains; Banská Šťavnica in Slovak Ore Mountains; and Kutná Hora mining town in Czechia), the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří landscape is kind of exceptional because of its enormous size and large diversity in terms of typology, landscape, nature, architecture and also of materials (silver, tin, cobalt, copper, iron ore, coal, uranium and other elements such as molybdenum, tungsten, lithium, radium, radon, etc.)

My impression from the visited sites:

(A) Germany – the majority of nominated sites are located there, but I visited only town of Frieberg (I traveled from Dresden by train). It happened two times and in both cases it was during Christmas, and I enjoyed the Christmas Market there …

In the east of Germany and just across the border in the northwest of Czechia lies a region called the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří in the respective local languages). Its name comes from the ores (silver, copper, tin, zinc) that have been mined here over the centuries. The Germans and Czechs have been active since 2015 to secure a shared spot for this area on the World Heritage List. 

On the German side, I checked out 3 locations in the Marienberg Mining Area: the city center of Marienberg, a reconstructed horse-driven mill in the Lauta Mining Landscape, and the Grünthal Liquation Hut Complex in Olbernhau. Marienberg’s distinguishing feature is its large city square, designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance. I noticed little of further interest in the city centre, but I did pay a visit to the regional museum which is housed in a massive former granary from the early 19th century. The employees on duty seemed a bit shocked that I wanted to visit. The exhibition unfortunately mainly focuses on the traditional crafts and daily life in the region, not so much on the mining.

I can be brief about the second location on my list: the Pferdegöpel auf dem Rudolphschacht (Lauta) cannot be visited without a tour, and I had to wait another hour for one to start. So I drove straight on to the last location: Grünthal in Olbernhau. This immediately felt a lot better: a fast-flowing river runs through the valley (always handy …

Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří Mining Cultural Landscape was originally planned for nomination in 2016. I decided to visit this TL site ahead of its official inscription, in april 2016. This nomination was withdrawn a few weeks later, due to the ICOMOS evaluation, pointing, as I understood, a lack of coherence between the individual components.

It is true that this project is difficult to apprehend. On the German side, there is 8 areas, with 39 elements and more than 110 sites (some sites including up to 11 significant objects). The Czech side consists of 4 cultural lanscapes, one lime work and the Red Tower of Death.

The nomination dossier avaiblable on the WHC site does not show clear maps of the different elements, sites or significant objects, and I spent considerable amount of time researching the internet to correctly locate all objects. I found this site in German (http://www.jenskuglerverlag.de/studien-dokumentationen) which lists some studies with maps of some of the elements.

I must say that I do agree with ICOMOS with the lack of coherence, at least on the German part. It is a patchwork of monuments (some very vaguely) related to the mining history of the area. To note :

- head office of companies working in mining (or in watch making, or cutlery and tableware).

- administrative building of mining companies, far away from the mines.

- professional schools, I imagine in which engineers were trained for mining.

- churches and cathedral where miners could attend service.

- castle or historic …

I visited several towns around Dresden recently, and Altenberg was one of them. It is in a mountainous area close to the border with Czechia and is known for cross country skiing among Germans.

Altenberg is also one of the mining towns collectively nominated by Germany for a WHS. It sounds like it is for sure to become a WHS within a few years.

I visited on a morning trip on a Sunday by train from Dresden.

Both the tourist office and the mining museum were open on the Sunday morning.

So I visited the museum by one of the entrances to the tin mine and then went to see what they call "Pinge," a huge hole that was created when the mine collapsed in 1620. The diameter today is about 400 meters, and the depth is about 150 meters.

PHOTO 1: The banner reads, "Wir sind auf dem Weg zum Unesco-Welterbe," which means, "We are on the way to Unesco World Heritage."

PHOTO 2: One of the entrances to the mine.

PHOTO 3: There is a 1200 meter-long fence surrounding "Pinge." The sign reads, "Bereten verboten: Lebensgefahr!" I later found out that it meant, "Entrance forbidden: Fatal!"

PHOTO 4: "Pinge."

As you can see, my German is not very good.