Current Exhibits

It is thanks to a fortunate coincidence that the Mining and Gothic Museum is in possession of a cast bronze cake. This is the name for a by-product of primeval copper processing. The valuable raw material was primarily intended for further processing at the coppersmiths but was also used as payment during the Bronze Age.

In 2018 a German family salvaged this example after a mountain tour in late summer from a waterhole of the Schwarzleo stream in the vicinity of the Bronze Age mine discovered in 2004.

Mining activity during the Bronze Age took the form of an open-cast mine; this was proven by excavations by Robert Krauss and Martin Seiwald.

The family found fragments of large storage vessels made of clay mixed with slag, fine ceramics in the form of a small bowl and almost completely preserved spruce wood shingles, which probably once formed the roof of a living or workspace. Secondary minerals in the form of malachite and azurite can be found throughout the entire early mining site.

The discovery of the cast copper cake means that the smelting of ores in the mining district of Schwarzleo, while not yet proven, can now at least be assumed.

The cast copper cake, found in the summer of 2018 in the Schwarzleo stream, weighs 651 g, is oval-shaped and, with a thickness of 1 cm, relatively flat compared to other finds.

The material is solid and free of slag and charcoal. However, whether it is pure copper or copper alloy in the form of bronze will only be revealed through ongoing investigations.

Pure copper would secure Leogang as the place of origin, whereas bronze would have been delivered as for the production of mining tools.

The cast copper cake has signs that it has been at the bottom of the stream for a long time. Sanding sediments have round the edges and in some areas removed the rich green malachite patina down to the metal.

Thanks to the finders’ great understanding the cast copper cake was donated to the Mining and Gothic Museum and represents an important find for research into Leogang mining.

The cross shown here is silver with hallmarks from 1805 or 1809. Stamp marks on metalwork objects usually certified their precious metal content. Further stamps had to do with legal stipulations.

The cross has an eight-piece foot with a double hallmark in the rhombus containing a large ‘C’s and another with an ‘8’, denoting 8-Lot silver. In addition, there is a stamp with crossed keys. At the foot of the cross is an inscription: ‘1470’ in Gothic numerals.

On the front of the cross, the ends of the top half branch out into trefoils. Trefoils are a common element of the late Romanesque and Gothic style and consist of three, outward-pointing circular arcs with the same radii as inscribed in a circle.

Left and right can be found the single letters ‘F’ and ‘H’ (probably the owner’s initials). At the top is the inscription ‘IH. CROS’, the abbreviation for ‘Jesus Christ’. The inscription ‘INRI’ (‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’) can be found above a relic window in the shape of a Teutonic Order cross. The trefoil on the lower end is decorated with a black, wolf-like animal in a blazon. The ring at the top end once served to attach a securing tape to ensure the cross did not fall during prayer processions.

The reverse shows an engraving of St. Christopher with the Infant Jesus and has a removable piece of the True Cross under clear quartz along with the coat of arms of an unknown bishop.

The inscription ‘receptacle containing the confirmation from Rome of the authenticity of this piece of the True Cross’ can be found on the bottom plate. This was the certificate of authenticity of a relic issued by a bishop. The foot of the cross is hollow, presumably it once held the now-lost certificate. The processional cross comes from the Margarete Sperl collection. It was a gift from His Magnificence Günther Georg Bauer, privy councillor of Salzburg.

A miner’s toolset was known as ‘Gezäh’ (Old High German for ‘gizawa’, meaning ‘succeed’). This was basically a mallet and chisel. With the mallet in one hand the miner would strike one of several different kinds of chisel held in the other to score or scrape the rock.

The miner would place iron pieces in the so-called ‘kerf’, the hole made by the impact, with smaller and larger wedges in between. The wedges would then be hit with a ‘Schlenkerhammer’ or club mallet until the stone cracked. Another miner would loosen the rock mass with an iron crowbar.

This was an extremely hard and tedious job. If the miners failed to make progress they would use the age-old method of fire-setting, whereby the rock was make brittle by exposing it to heat and dousing it in cold water.

At the end of the 17th century these millennia-old mining techniques were replaced by blasting with gunpowder. Now, deep holes would be drilled and sprinkled with gunpowder. The gunpowder would be compressed with a ramrod, a fuse inserted, the hole closed with sand or wooden pegs and then detonated.

In order to work underground, the miners needed a light source. Initially kindling was used. This created a lot of soot, so towards the end of the 18th century, ‘Frösche’ or ‘frogs’ (tallow and oil lamps) came along, which were later replaced by acetylene and carbide lamps.

Although the latter provided more brightness, they still had a naked flame which, with the combustible mine gases, ran the risk of causing a fatal explosion.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that gasoline lamps were introduced, which burned brightly enough and did not soot. The miner finally had adequate and safe lighting at his disposal.