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| Schwazer Bergbuch 1556 | beginning 18th. century | before 1924 | todays view |
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The oldest picture of the Schneeberg ( to be found in the mountain book of Schwaz from 1556) is quite vague, the painter surely had never been to the Schneeberg personally. The mentioning of a "Schmiten" (forge) and of a "Fleischpankh" (butcher‘s), however, is of important meaning. An illustration of the first half of the 18th century is showing the little miner‘s church, the manor house built onto it and the miner‘s quarter at the original entrance hole of the Martin Gallery. The Margarethen Quarter below the church and the gallery with the same name vanished due to the stairs-shaped deposits of later times (from the Martin Gallery), from the "ober Pucher" (crushing mill and wash house) on the stream only few traces can be found today. Up the stream behind the crushing mill we can see the settlement on the stream (untere Kaue) which is partly still existing today. On a ledge of the terrain above this settlement we can find the already-mentioned butcher‘s (ground-plan is still visible today) and - situated centrally, but with a respectful distance to the other buildings - the powder tower (today‘s winter room). Before 1904 the old inn was situated on the place east of the church. The still existing buildings and ruins of the miner‘s settlement St. Martin can be dated back to the years around 1900, except of the church, and thanks to a grand and spacious restoration (after 1900) look the way they look today. All buildings are connected with each other and with the Martin Gallery underground. The pyramid is the symbol of Schneeberg and served as zero for the surveying. It is built of ore-containing stones and at the top is equipped with the symbol of the miners, the "Gezähe" (hammer and iron). As the pyramid suffered a lot due to souvenir hunters, it was restored in the nineties. We are now going a couple of steps downwards to the ruin of the miner‘s house (Knappenkaue, obere Kaue). This building with a total length of more than 60 metres accomodated the original miner‘s quarter (45 m), a supervisor‘s appartment, room for compressors, a forge and a washing room, behind that stood a stable for horses and mules and there was a cinema in one of the huts situated north-eastern. On the big place in front of the miner‘s house there existed several parallel-running tracks (flat passage). After the first world war the washing rooms, the showers and toilets were built onto under the Italian leadership. Now the house also accomodated a "spaccio" (shop) and a "doppolavoro" (leisure room). On June 21, 1967 the building burnt down (damage of 64.070.000 Lire). Most of the 65 miners that lived in the building and also the rest of the staff left Schneeberg the same day. One presumed arson, as the new quarters 1000 metres downwards and close to the ore plant of Maiern were already finished.
more photos in the Flash photo album (bigger format and better quality)
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