The museum of past mining
Rózsaszentmárton, at the foot of the Mátra Hills
MúzeumCafé 11.
The village of Rózsaszentmárton lies in the western Mátra Hills at the south-western edge of Heves County. Mining was a major activity here for six decades. A huge E-330 dredging machine at the edge of the village reminds visitors of those times. The giant equipment as well as the Brown Coal Memorial House in the village centre and the open-air exhibition in its courtyard were inaugurated in September 2008. All the locals are proud of the mining relics. I am received by the village mayor, Mrs Sipos, and two elderly experts. “Our village used to live from agriculture and viticulture until the middle of the 19th century when geologists discovered enormous reserves of coal. Industrial production was started by royal councillor Andor Rády in 1908, but it stopped during the First World War. In 1918 Vilmos Fóris, who was in charge of the Mátra Region Mining Company, continued the mining. An agreement was concluded for 60 years, based on the planned Mátra Regional Power Plant and the brown coal of Rózsaszentmárton. In theory it had an expiry date of 2000, but it finished in 1968. At that time deep working mines were closed and due to cast mining the cradle of brown coal mining at the foot of the Mátra Hills became quiet.” The introduction is precise and compact. The secretary of the local retired miners’ association, József Fáczán, adds: “During the six decades production was undertaken in a total of nine slanting shafts, and nine million tonnes of brown coal was extracted from the earth in the neighbourhood of the village.” The local authority declared 2008 the Year of Mining. After succeeding with various applications, it published a monograph about the events of the past, had a memorial medal made and traditional miners’ jugs crafted.