Schnepp shaft collapse

MINING REGION ERZGEBIRGE/KRUŠNOHOŘÍ

Historical records of ore mining in the Ore Mountains begin in 1168, when silver ores were discovered in the vicinity of today's Freiberg. More than 800 years of mining history of the Ore Mountains are based on this discovery.

This depression, currently about 80 m long, as much as 20 m wide and 20 m deep, was formed by a combination of open-pit and underground mining on the Mauritius, Führinger and Dreifaltigkeit veins, and the subsequent collapse of the mine workings which occurred prior to the 1730s. In the adjacent upper Schnepp’s shaft collapse, the course of the main greisen vein and a relic of the Tagstrecke adit, one of the oldest adits in the district dating back to the 16th century, can be observed.