Bergbau Fohnsdorf — Wodzicki-Schacht Fohnsdorf · Steiermark · Austria

Brown coal extraction at Fohnsdorf in the Murtal district of Styria has one of the longest documented industrial histories in Austria. Documentary evidence for coal working at Fohnsdorf dates from 1670, when deposits were discovered west of Dietersdorf. Within five years, an opencast working had been established under Johann Adolf I, Fürst Schwarzenberg, on land forming part of his Murau-administered estates. Early efforts to use the coal in the Schwarzenberg estate's own ironworks were unsuccessful, and approval for the opencast was itself achieved only after five years of dispute with the authorities at Vordernberg. Nonetheless the discovery brought economic development to the community and established Fohnsdorf as a mining settlement.

Over the following two centuries the Fohnsdorf field was worked by a succession of interests. Originally held within the Schwarzenberg estate for the extraction of alum as well as coal, the workings experienced fluctuating fortunes. At the Feeberggraben locality, the Schwarzenberg family operated two shaft installations — the Johann-Adolf-Schacht and the Josephie-Schacht, built in 1872–73 and 1884 respectively — extracting 315,000 tonnes of coal between 1834 and 1896. Elsewhere in the field, competing private operators including Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck, Karl Mayr and others sank small workings during the mid-nineteenth century. The state mining authority (Montanärar) began planning deep shaft mines at Fohnsdorf from 1853; the Josefi and Lorenzi shafts were sunk in 1857–58, equipped with steam-powered rope drums, wooden headframes, cage winding, and underground water management machinery. Annual output growth reached 31 per cent per year and by 1875 a preliminary production peak of 263,000 tonnes was recorded.

The critical transition in the mine's development came in 1869, when, following Austria's defeat in the war of 1866 and the consequent forced sale of state industrial assets, Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck acquired the mine from the Montanärar. He sold it one week later at a substantial profit to the newly founded Steirische Eisenindustrie-Gesellschaft, which required coal for its integrated steelworks at Zeltweg. In 1870–74 a Bessemer steelworks and blast furnace complex were established at Zeltweg, cementing the link between Fohnsdorf coal and Styrian iron production. During this period, in 1870, the Antoni-Schacht was sunk east of Kumpitz as the third major deep shaft installation.

The defining phase of the mine's industrial development began in 1881 with the acquisition by the Österreichisch-Alpine Montangesellschaft (Alpine Montangesellschaft), which brought systematic capital investment and engineering expertise to the operation. The principal shaft associated with this phase was the Wodzicki-Schacht, part of a planned twin-shaft complex. Planning began in 1881, with works commencing in 1884; eight years and one million Gulden were originally budgeted. The shaft was named after Ludwig Graf Wodzicki, first president of the Alpine Montangesellschaft (1881–1892). Initial equipment included a 450-horsepower winding engine from the Andritzer Maschinenfabrik driving two one-metre rope drums through crankshafts, moving a four-deck cage. A reserve winding engine of 350 horsepower with bobbin winding allowed four cages to operate. A 650-horsepower water management pump capable of raising 4.3 cubic metres per minute was also installed, along with a boiler house supplying steam for all shaft operations.

The headframe of the Wodzicki-Schacht, believed to be among the first applications of a double-brace frame design in Austria, was erected in 1887. In 1910 two turbogenerators of 1,000 and 2,000 horsepower respectively were installed, introducing electric lighting throughout the shaft. By 1925 the headframe had been raised to its present height of 47 metres and a new twin-tandem compound steam winding engine — eventually rated at 3,350 to 3,600 horsepower — was installed, substantially increasing the shaft's output capacity. By 1930 the complete mechanical equipment of the shaft had been renewed.

A major disaster occurred on 6 August 1943, when a firedamp explosion in the Karl-August-Schacht killed 100 to 101 miners — the largest loss of life in a single Austrian mining accident. In 1940 a water inrush during deepening works in the main shaft had required extensive dam-building to contain. In 1975 the mine's training centre was established.

By the 1970s the combination of steadily rising operating costs and the structural competitiveness of alternative energy sources made continued deep coal extraction economically unsustainable. The underground mine at Fohnsdorf closed in 1978. Immediately after closure the Wodzicki-Schacht was filled with 17,184 cubic metres of blast-furnace granulate mixed with cement and water. The majority of surface buildings were subsequently demolished and the adits closed. In 1977, a year before final closure, the headframe and part of the winding engine house had been placed under monument protection (Denkmalschutz).

In 1979 the Arbeitskreis "Montandenkmal Fohnsdorf" was constituted, taking over the protected headframe and engine house the same year and commencing work on establishing a mining museum. In April 1983 the Bergbaumuseum Fohnsdorf opened as the first — and to date only — coal mining museum in Austria. The museum presents on 1,000 square metres of covered exhibition space and 5,000 square metres of open-air grounds the working lives of miners, the social history of the mining community, machines, models and equipment from what was the world's deepest brown coal operation. The twin-tandem steam winding engine and the 47-metre headframe remain the principal exhibits. The museum also operates a 160-metre underground show tunnel and holds the oldest steam accumulator locomotive in the world, dating from 1889. The mine's waste tip continues to burn to the present day, a visible legacy of the centuries of coal extraction.