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Štvrtá šachta recorded as Kremnica mining shaft
Modern mapping records list Štvrtá šachta as a mining shaft at Dolná 82, Kremnica.
Site overview
Kremnica — Štvrtá šachta / Ferdinandova šachta is a historic shaft site in the Kremnica gold-silver mining district of central Slovakia. Kremnica is one of the most important historic precious-metal mining towns in Slovakia, with royal mining privileges granted in 1328 and a long history of gold and silver extraction. Historic records and image archives identify Shaft No. IV as the Ferdinand shaft, while modern mapping records the site as Štvrtá šachta.
The shaft is associated with the Kremnica mining and drainage system, including underground infrastructure leading toward the Hron outlet. The surviving site forms part of the technical and mining heritage of the Kremnica district.
The supplied coordinates appear to be erroneous, so no reliable setting description can be assigned beyond noting that the intended site should lie within the dispersed mining landscape of Banská Hodruša.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
The Štvrtá šachta record belongs to the Kremnica gold-silver mining district, one of the major precious-metal districts of medieval and early modern Central Europe. Kremnica received royal mining town privileges in 1328, and its mint began producing gold florins shortly afterwards. The ore district exploited a low-sulphidation gold-silver-antimony system hosted in the volcanic geology of the Kremnické vrchy.
Štvrtá šachta, or Shaft No. IV, is closely associated with the Ferdinand shaft identity in historic records. Historic image records identify Shaft No. IV as the Ferdinand shaft in early twentieth-century views, including photographs from around 1900, 1903, 1920 and 1925. The site is also associated with technical infrastructure in the town, including a machine room and underground power installation, and with the wider drainage and water-management systems that served the Kremnica mines.
The shaft relates to the Ferdinand drainage/adit system of the Kremnica mining district. Modern route and heritage material describes Štvrtá šachta as a point from which underground infrastructure continues toward the Hron outlet between Žiar nad Hronom and Šášovské Podhradie. The precise shaft chronology, original engineering specification and relationship between the names Štvrtá šachta, Šachta IV and Ferdinandova šachta should be confirmed from Slovak mining archives or local technical-monument records, but the Kremnica identity of the site is secure.
Timeline
1328
Kremnica granted royal mining privileges
Kremnica received royal mining town privileges in 1328, marking its formal status as one of the major precious-metal mining towns of the Hungarian kingdom.
1900
Shaft No. IV / Ferdinand shaft documented
Historic image records identify Shaft No. IV, also described as the Ferdinand shaft, in the Kremnica gold-silver mining area by 1900.
1920
Steel headframe documented at Shaft No. IV
Historic image records show a steel headframe at Shaft No. IV / Ferdinand shaft around 1920 and again in the mid-1920s.
Sources and records
OMA.sk: Štvrtá šachta, Dolná 82, Kremnica; Mindat: Kremnica Au-Ag deposit, Kremnica, Žiar nad Hronom District, Banská Bystrica Region; Mindat image archive: Shaft No. IV / Ferdinand shaft, Kremnica; Slovakia Travel: Mining monuments in Kremnica; Barborská cesta brochure; regional bibliography entry for Šachta IV v Kremnici.
This researched site record is part of the HAABase Mines database. Normal personal research and browsing is welcome. Automated bulk extraction, republication, or harvesting of site text and images is not permitted without written consent.