Man found gold in the area of today's Kremnica already before Karol Róbert granted the settlement Cremnychbana with mining and minting privileges in y.1328. Gold was obtained by the gold panning in creeks. Later it was a sophisticated surface extraction then underground mining. Tunnels and shafts excavation, furrows digging and waste accumulation caused changes in the country's relief.
Although the mining activities disappeared from this area, still we can see lots of evidence of an extensive town's mining history, mining technological landmarks directly in Kremnica and the town's surroundings.
From direction of Žiar nad Hronom, before Kremnica's entry, opposite of Shell petrol station, there is the end of Deep hereditary tunnel (Hlboká (Hornoveská) dedičná štôlňa). This manually digged tunnel is 7050m long undermined the Anna's shaft in Kremnické Bane and is its fourth horizon. The fourth shaft with a machine room is a bit further, on the road's opposite side. It is the only shaft still in operation and serves for transportation to the underground hydro power station, which is in depth of 245m. The power station with three peltone turbines was launched on the Main hereditary tunnel's level in year 1921.
The Main hereditary tunnel (emperor Ferdinand's hereditary tunnel) is the youngest and the deepest out of the three hereditary tunnels in Kremnica and the tunneling (digging) last for one hundred years. The total tunnel's length up to the Anna's shaft is 15481m. Nine thousand four hundred and sixty-one meters (9461m) of corridors and passageways were digged on the Anna's shaft's level.
The Ferdinand's shaft with a machine room is located in J. Horváth street no.890/10. It belonged to the Zigmunds-Juraj mine ownership. The first horizontal steam engine substituted a horse haul (konské gáple) here in y.1877. The shaft's depth reaches 301m on Main hereditary tunnel's level. The tunnel is 4280m long and it was digged manually with a hammer and a chisel.
A mining (towing) tower of the Ludovik's shaft is located north-west of town, below the Šturec overflow. It was the Ludovik's shaft, where the first electric mining (towing) tower in Kremnica was constructed in 1892-94. Energy for its drive was supplied by the first hydro power station in Nová Dolina (New Valley). In 1916-17 a western fork of the Main hereditary tunnel reached the Ludovik's shaft, which depth is 375,5m.
Nearby the shaft's coalface (nárazisko), on the Main hereditary tunnel's level a thermal spring was bore with a temperature of 52° C. It has supplied the water for the thermal swimming pool Catherine until today.
There are some evidence of certain mining activities in the north-west part of the town, whether they are tunnels or shafts. In the Šturec overflow, there are some tunnels e.g. the Václav center, the Václav south, the Šturec tunnel. Above the Šturec overflow, there are some shafts e.g. the Mikuláš shaft and the Klinger shaft. Above the mining road, there is the Václav north tunnel and the Leopold town's shaft. Some stony memorials dedicated to the emperor František Lotrinský and his son palatine Joseph and Joseph II's visits have been preserved. Nearby the Virgin Mary's chapel, there is the landmark object's skeleton - knockers (klopačky) and a ground hollow along the Virgin Mary's shaft.
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