Tyrolean Mining and Metallurgy Museum Brixlegg

The Tyrolean Mining and Metallurgy Museum is located in the building of the old elementary school of Brixlegg. Here original finds, mining tools, information about the geological conditions in Tyrol, historic and modern mining technologies, and the large Bitterlich Collection of minerals are exhibited. Moreover, the building houses the exhibition of the extreme climber Hias Rebitsch.

Since the Bronze Age, copper was manufactured in Tyrol, and since the Middle Ages silver was recovered from ore. In the 15th and 16th century, Tyrol experienced a golden age of mining, especially the regions of Brixlegg, Hall in Tirol (Hall Mint) and Schwaz. Images of the Mining Book of Schwaz from 1556 - the original can be seen at the Museum at the Armoury Innsbruck - show the hard work of the miners and the well-organised mining structure in Tyrol. Particularly interesting is the "Hunt vom Gratlspitz", a tram which was found in the Eighties and then restored.

But the journey back in time at the 400 sqm large museum (Tiroler Bergbau- und Hüttenmuseum) extends much farther back: The finds made at the "Mariahilfbergl" hill tell about the first activities in mining already 4,000 years ago. The settlement in this area even started 6,000 years ago.