The Ore Mountain Mining Region comprises 22 components, of which 17 lie in Saxony and 5 in the Czech part of the Ore Mountains. The Czech sites include the Jáchymov Mining Landscape, the Abertamy – Boží Dar – Horní Blatná Mining Landscape, the Rudá věž smrti, the Krupka Mining Landscape and the Mědník Mining Landscape. Together, the individual sites document the influence that mining and ore processing on both sides of the mountain range had on the development of mining and metallurgy in Europe and in the world [1].
Inscription on the UNESCO list
The region was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019 as a shared heritage of the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany [2]. On 6 July 2019 the World Heritage Committee confirmed that the site meets three of the criteria set out in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, namely criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv) [2].
Under criterion (ii), the region documents the role of the Ore Mountains as a centre of technological and scientific innovation from the Renaissance to modern times, transferred to other mining areas of the world, in particular through the system of mining education and the activity of Ore Mountain miners abroad [2]. Criterion (iii) relates to the influence of mining on the social life of the region, including the hierarchical organisation of mining administration developed from the early 16th century, which influenced the economic and legal system of mining throughout continental Europe [2]. Criterion (iv) recognises the region as a coherent mining landscape whose economy was shaped by mining from the 12th to the 20th century, with surviving mine workings, technological complexes and water management systems both on the surface and underground [2].
History of mining
The mining and processing of ores took place in the Ore Mountains almost continuously for more than 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th century, and throughout that time were the dominant economic sector of the region [2]. The ores mined were mainly those of silver, tin, cobalt and iron, and in more recent times also uranium [1][2]. According to the description, this long history of mining created a mining landscape with industrial heritage sites above and below ground and with a dense network of mining towns, for which the source states that it has no equal in the world [1].
Jáchymov Mining Landscape
Among the Czech sites, the Jáchymov Mining Landscape is described separately. The town of Jáchymov was founded in 1516 and shortly afterwards became a silver-mining area of the Ore Mountains, in Europe and in the world [1]. Georgius Agricola, the town physician of Jáchymov, laid the foundations of the sciences of mining, metallurgy, mineralogy and ore deposit geology there in the 16th century; his work "De re metallica libri XII" of 1556 served as a textbook of the mining sciences in Europe and in the world for more than 200 years [1]. The Jáchymov mining regulations of the 16th century influenced the form of mining legislation until the 19th century [1].
From 1520 silver thalers were minted at the Jáchymov mint on the model of the Saxon Guldengroschen. They became a Europe-wide synonym for large silver trade coins and from the middle of the 16th century formed the basis of the thaler system used in a number of European countries until the end of the 19th century; the name of the American dollar is also derived from the name of the Jáchymov thaler [1]. A number of technical inventions are also connected with the development of silver mining in Jáchymov in the 16th century, for example the pumping machine known as the "mihadlo", invented in Jáchymov in 1551 and used in European mining areas until the 19th century [1]. In 1716 the world's first state mining school was founded in Jáchymov, which became a model for the creation of similar schools in the Habsburg monarchy and elsewhere in Europe [1].
Other Czech sites
Besides Jáchymov, the Czech share of the site includes four further sites: the Abertamy – Boží Dar – Horní Blatná Mining Landscape, the Rudá věž smrti, the Krupka Mining Landscape and the Mědník Mining Landscape [1]. The sources do not describe these individual sites separately beyond naming them among the components of the site.