Reiche Zeche Research and Teaching Mine

The Reiche Zeche pilot shaft is the main shaft used by the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology for research and teaching.  The shaft was sunk to a depth of 724 metres in the mid-19th century, creating a new central shaft in the Himmelfahrt Fundgrube mine in the northern mining field. It originally featured a reversible water wheel for hoisting and a water-column engine for drainage. A new water-column engine was installed at this level when the Rothschönberger Adit drainage gallery was connected. Steam power was used for hauling from 1886. After mining was shut down, the Freiberg Mining Academy built a number of research and institute buildings at the Reiche Zeche. The mine was turned into a training mine in the 1980s and opened to the public in the 1990s. In addition to the large heap from the vertical shaft, the structures that have been preserved ‒ and either partially rebuilt or modernised ‒ include a headframe and hoisting house, a machine house and adjacent power house, and the chimney stack for the steam-powered gin.