Merkers Adventure Mines

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Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers- World of white gold

Merkers Adventure Mines are a visitor attraction in Krayenberggemeinde in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. They lie near the village of Merkel. The mines have a long history of salt extraction, and hold the record for concealing large amounts of Nazi gold during World War II. A hundred tons of gold and many works of art presumed to be stolen were discovered by the liberating United States Army in 1945.

Context

The Merkers Mine drops 860m below the surface into the 'Werra-Revier' band of potash bearing salt. There, at a constant temperature of 28C, are 4600 kilometers of tunnels. Visitors are lowered in the hoisting cage at over 50m/ sec (30km/h) down to the 500m galleries. There they are driven on 20-kilometre long tour of the mine, seeing an underground mining museum, a room where in 1945 the 'Gold und Devisenreserven der Deutschen Reichbank' dubbed the Nazi gold was stored, the worlds largest underground bucket-wheel excavator, simulated blasting and a laser show in the world's largest underground concert hall. Also, in 1980 a crystal grotto was discovered. Here visitors see enormous salt crystals, some over 1000mm in length.

Gallery

• Manet's Wintergarden 19450425 NARA 5757184.jpg

  Manet's Wintergarden in safe keeping in 1945

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  The Gold Room today

• Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers 2010 011.JPG

  Salt crystals in the 1980 Crystal Grotto

External links

• Webseite zur 700-Jahr-Feier des Ortes Merkers mit geschichtlichen Informationen
• Erlebnisbergwerk Merkers Slideshow.
• Kristallsalzschlotte im Erlebnis Bergwerk Merkers, Geotopbeschreibung der Thüringer Landesanstalt für Umwelt und Geologie (TLUG)