Mineralogical and palaeontological collection in the Museum of Mining in Příbram

In the former administration building of the Ševčin mine that is part of the Open-Air Mining Museum Březové Hory, there is a unique mineralogical and palaeontological collection of the rich finds from the Cambrian period which Joachim Barrande made in the nearby jinecká Basin. Barrande is also commemorated by a plaque referring to his visit in 1879.

This mineralogical and geological collection was created mainly from the collections of the former Ore Mines and the personal collections of mining officials. The most valuable is the collection of silver minerals from the Březové Hory district, but the greatest documentary value of the collection lies in the preservation of the often quite precise locations of the samples taken. The original mineralogical collection of the mining school in Příbram was moved to Ostrava after 1945, and there it is housed in the František Pošepný pavilion.

In the mineralogical collections building there is also a plaque, originally placed at the Vojtěch Mine, commemorating the fact that the world-famous palaeontologist Joachim Barrande came here on his 80th birthday. Barrande is famous especially as an expert on Palaeozoic fauna who gave his extensive collection to the National Museum in Prague. His original profession, however, was civil engineering and he worked in Bohemia for example in the planning of the future railway network.

The Vojtěch Mine, which is also part of the museum tour, is the first one in the world where the depth of 1 km below the surface was reached with a single vertical shaft (1875). The permanent exhibition in the shaft building of the Vojtěch mine also describes this technical rarity of its time. 

Obr. A plaque commemorating the fact that Joachim Barrande went down the shaft of the Vojtěch Mine on his 80th birthday is on the ground floor of the mineralogical and geological exhibition at the Ševčin Mine. 

Hornické muzeum Příbram: URL: https://www.muzeum-pribram.cz/cz/muzeum/historie/ [24. 2. 2022].

Majer, J.: Z dějin Vysoké školy báňské v Příbrami. Sympozium hornická Příbram ve vědě technice. 1984, s. 252. 

The former Ševčin mine is part of the Museum of Mining in Příbram today (Author: Majer, J.: Z dějin Vysoké školy báňské v Příbrami. Sympozium hornická Příbram ve vědě technice. 1984, s. 252. )

A plaque commemorating the fact that Joachim Barrande went down the shaft of the Vojtěch Mine on his 80th birthday is on the ground floor of the mineralogical and geological exhibition at the Ševčin Mine. (Author: Picture provided by Pavel Škácha, Mining Musem Příbram)