Site overview
Důl Anselm at Ostrava-Petřkovice is the oldest deep coal mine on the Ostrava coalfield, founded in 1830 by the chapter of the Olomouc archbishopric on a site where adit-based coal extraction had begun in 1782. The mine passed into the ownership of Salomon Mayer Rothschild in 1843, who renamed it Anselm after his son. Under Rothschild and later Gutmann management it was progressively modernised, and a 40-metre steel headframe was erected in 1915.
The mine was nationalised in 1945 and subsequently renamed Masaryk, then Eduard Urx. Coal hoisting by shaft ended in 1973 and coal extraction in the mine's field ceased on 2 August 1991. The shaft was backfilled in 1992.
A mining museum was established from 1987 and opened to the public on 4 December 1993 as Landek Park, now the largest mining museum in the Czech Republic. The site is a listed cultural monument and adjoins the Landek National Natural Monument.
Map
History
The site at the southern foot of Landek hill in Petřkovice has the longest documented coal mining history in the Ostrava region, with evidence of coal use from prehistoric times and the earliest adit dug for coal extraction recorded in 1782. The modern mine was founded in 1830 by the chapter of the Olomouc archbishopric, initially named Ferdinand, then renamed Ferdinandovo štěstí after a Prussian mining authority objected to the duplication of an existing mine name. Following the sinking of the first shaft, known as the Strojní jáma, in 1835, the operation was converted from adit to deep shaft mining — making it the first deep mine on the Ostrava coalfield. Coke production began at the mine in 1840 with the introduction of a beehive coke oven.
On 8 April 1843 Salomon Mayer Rothschild purchased the mine and renamed it Anselm after his son Anselm Salomon Rothschild. Under Rothschild ownership the mine was steadily modernised. The first steam engine on the Ostrava coalfield was installed at the mine's shaft in 1847, with an output of 8.8 kW. In 1872 the brothers David and Vilém Gutmann, who traded in coal wholesale, leased the mine from the Rothschild family. Together with the Rothschilds they founded the Vítkovické kamenouhelné doly and in 1894 the Vítkovické horní a hutní těžířstvo (VHHT), into whose ownership Důl Anselm was incorporated. A coal preparation plant at Anselm also processed raw coal from the nearby jáma Oskar (opened 1891), transported by aerial tramway.
A significant logistical problem throughout the mine's early history was the transport of coal to the SDCF railway in Moravská Ostrava, which was managed expensively by horse-drawn carts. This was resolved in 1884 when an aerial tramway approximately 1.5 km in length was installed, carrying coal to the Odra mine at Přívoz. A railway siding across the Odra river, completing full rail connection, was opened in 1909. At the turn of the twentieth century the mine underwent comprehensive modernisation alongside its new rail connection. In 1915 a new 40-metre steel headframe was commissioned above the shaft; it survives to the present day. These modernisation works multiplied hoisting capacity, taking annual output from approximately 110,000 tonnes in 1899 to around 330,000 tonnes in 1911, and to 539,000 tonnes by 1937.
During the German occupation the mine was incorporated into the Reichswerke Hermann Göring concern and renamed Petershofen on 1 January 1942, using the German exonym for Petřkovice. Following liberation the name Anselm was restored. The mine was nationalised in 1945 and incorporated into the national enterprise Ostravsko-karvinské kamenouhelné doly Ostrava, the predecessor of OKD. On 17 July 1946 it was renamed Masaryk and on 31 December 1951 it received the name Eduard Urx, after a communist politician and journalist executed at Mauthausen in 1942. In 1964 the mine, now designated Závod 2, was incorporated under Důl Vítězný únor.
At the beginning of 1968 a mining apprentice training centre, the OU dolu Vítězný únor Ostrava-Poruba, was established at the mine, relocated from Důl Stachanov at Ostrava-Hrušov. Coal hoisting to the surface via the Urx 1 shaft was discontinued in 1973, after which Petřkovice coal was transported underground to Důl Vítězný únor at Přívoz. Extraction in the Důl Anselm coalfield ended on 2 August 1991. The shaft was backfilled in 1992, with a section immediately below the surface left open.
A mining museum was established from 1987 during the mine's final operational phase, initially focused on preserving mining equipment, documents, and photographs relating to coal extraction in the Ostrava region. The underground exhibition was opened to the public on 4 December 1993, the feast day of Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners. The principal surface buildings — the shaft building with headframe, the winding engine house, the boiler house, the compressor house, the locker room with bathrooms, and the workshops — were built in a unified architectural style of industrial Art Nouveau with characteristic plastic articulation in exposed red brick around a central courtyard at the elevated site immediately below the slope of Landek. In 1992 the site and the Landek hill were designated a Národní přírodní památka (National Natural Monument). In 1993 the Chapel of Saint Barbara was relocated to the site from Moravská Ostrava. The museum was transferred in June 2010 to the Dolní oblast Vítkovice association, which operates it as Landek Park, a recreational and cultural centre incorporating the mining museum. A major reconstruction of the headframe was carried out during its centenary year. The underground exhibition includes approximately 250 metres of accessible workings at a depth of 9 metres in the Albert and František seams, reached by the original cage. The mining rescue service exhibition is among the largest of its kind in the world.
Timeline
Mine formally founded by Olomouc archbishopric chapter
First shaft sunk; mine converted to deep working
Beehive coke oven installed; coke production begins
Salomon Mayer Rothschild purchases mine; renamed Anselm
First steam engine on the Ostrava coalfield commissioned at the shaft
Gutmann brothers lease the mine; Vítkovické kamenouhelné doly formed
Aerial tramway to Přívoz commissioned
Vítkovické horní a hutní těžířstvo formed; Anselm incorporated
Railway siding across the Odra river opened
New 40-metre steel headframe commissioned
Mine renamed Petershofen under German occupation
Nationalised; name Anselm restored
Renamed Důl Masaryk
Renamed Důl Eduard Urx
Incorporated as Závod 2 under Důl Vítězný únor
Shaft hoisting of coal discontinued
Mining museum established
Coal extraction in Důl Anselm coalfield ends
Shaft backfilled; site designated National Natural Monument
Landek Park mining museum opened to the public
Landek Park transferred to Dolní oblast Vítkovice association
Sources and records
Wikidata: Anselm Mine entry with NPU Monument Catalogue reference
NPU Památkový katalog: uhelný důl hlubinný ANSELM/Eduard Urx (no. 1000152423)
Dolní oblast Vítkovice official website: Landek Park mining museum
Montanregion Krušné hory: Jáchymov Mining Landscape entry for Anselm Mine (UNESCO tentative list)
Podzemi.org: Landek, Důl Anselm
Jednou stopou Českem: Hornické muzeum Landek Park
Akceavylety.cz: Landek Park
Hornické muzeum OKD (hrady.cz listing)
Landek Park official website
VisitOstrava: Důl Anselm
VisitCzechia: Landek Park and Michal Mine in Ostrava