Uranium Mining Landscape is located in the largest and most important Saxon uranium mining district (Schlema-Alberoda) in the western part of the Saxon Ore Mountains, around 3 km northeast of Schneeberg. This was the world’s largest deposit of its kind (depth to 2,000 m, area 23 km²) and 45 years of uranium mining constituted a unique economic, social and political-historic phenomenon.

The area is now characterized by forest, agriculture and several settlements (Bad Schlema in the south, Alberoda-Aue in the east, and Hartenstein in the north,) the centre of the nominated property bisected from north to south by the Zwickauer Mulde river and the railway which in several places follows and crosses the meandering river.

Shaft Complex 371 is an outstanding example of preserved facilities from large-scale underground uranium mining dating from the second half of the 20th century when the Ore Mountains took a leading role in uranium ore production at a time when the metal took on new significances in the exploitation of its unique nuclear properties for both military and civilian applications. Further, the handling of consequent environmental impacts and hazards are evidenced in the property at the landscape scale in the form of a large-scale decontamination and landscape redevelopment program which started after the cessation of uranium mining in 1990 following the political reunification of Germany. This set new international standards for the redevelopment of former mining areas.

What can be visited?