The small museum in the Podkrkonoše region of Rtyně is not very large in terms of space, but its geological collections and especially the unique and in the Czech Republic the largest exposition of 400 years of coal mining are even bigger and more interesting. Black coal was mined in the area of Rtyně and on the slopes of the Jestřebí Mountains from the mid-17th century. To this day, dozens of abandoned shafts or drainage galleries remind us of the rich history of coal mining in the region. There were several large and important mines in Rtyně and its surroundings, the Tmavý důl (Dark Mine) above all, which was excavated in the middle of the 19th century and operated almost continuously until the 1980s. Other mines were Ida and Větrný důl (Wind Mine), which later operated together under the name Důl Zdeněk Nejedlý (Zdeněk Nejedlý Mine). Although black coal is no longer mined in Rtyně and its environs today, because mining is not economically profitable, the long tradition of this craft and of the mining engineering sciences (i.e. mining and metallurgical sciences) is still evident in the area. The extensive collection of the local Municipal Museum offers examples of working tools from the oldest to the modern, as well as models of mining machines, mining ropes and breathing devices, information on individual mines and examples of minerals found in the area. The local mining banners from the first half of the 19th century and preserved mining maps, from which it is possible to get an idea of the extent and size of the shafts that criss-cross the Podkrkonoše underground are also unique. The exhibition also includes an educational trail around the area, which takes the visitor to places associated with mining.
