Mining and metallurgical open-air museum in Leszczyna

Leszczyna – a village located near Złotoryja in the Kaczawskie Foothills – is the cradle of Silesian copper. The mining traditions of the area date back to the times of the Piasts, namely Bolesław the High and his son Henry the Bearded, who in 1211 granted Złotoryja city rights and the privilege of a mining town. It allowed miners to settle freely without paying fees, practice crafts and sell beer. On an organized scale, copper ore was mined here in the second half of the sixteenth century, whilst in later centuries the extraction and processing of this raw material were resumed and suspended several times. In turn, the second half of the nineteenth century was the period of development of rock mining – sandstone and limestone were obtained to the greatest extent, which was burned in local lime kilns.

It was around the 19^th century twin furnaces when the Złotoryjskie Society of Mining Traditions began to organize demonstration smelting of metals under the name "Dymarki Kaczawskie" and create the foundations of the medieval Mining and Metallurgical Open-Air Museum. Its main element is the aforementioned furnace consisting of two towers - reconstructed today, they serve as observation towers while, at the same time, constituting the starting point of the educational path "Synklina Leszczyny" (the word "synklina" in geology means "concave fold"), which guides visitors through the centuries-old history of mining and metallurgy. Part of the route runs through the area of the former mine "Silent Happiness" [German: Stilles Glück], which operated in the years 1855-1883. After the mine and the steelworks – which is a Monument of Inanimate Nature – traces of the adit outlet, former shafts and a cluster of slag have been preserved.

On the territory of the open-air museum next to the furnaces, one may visit the Chamber of Mining Traditions – an exhibition room where you can see what life was like in medieval Leszczyna and the surrounding area. For educational purposes, there are also numerous craft stands and stalls which bring visitors closer to the nature of the work of disappearing professions, as well as geological, natural science or ecological laboratories.