15.07. the king’s mines

Just behind Kongsberg, the norwegian mining museum awaits us. Located in an old silver mine we get an insight in 500 years of Mining history. Therefor we drive in the mountain with a small train and got a guided tour. The mining system is huge! 3 Main mines go up to 1 kilometer deep in the hill. Building the mines was a hard and painfull work as the stone is very hard. They used different techniques, which became more modern by time, but still many people died of smoke or coldness, falling things and hard work. The newest machines from the begin of the 20th century were shown in one room, surprisingly all were run by a hydroelectric turbine. It’s really unbelievable what people wrest from the earth. And only because it’s shiny and nice. It feels kind of wrong, to take it away and sacrifice so many lives for it. We were kindly allowed to stay in the mine and run our light installation in the shaft. Back on top we were heading to a big waterfall. It was much colder up here. Afterwards met our new host Aliona in Rauland. We were warmly welcomed with a hot soup and had a really nice evening