The Mining Museum from Petroșani

The Mining Museum which is located in Petroșani, and access can be made from European Road (DE) 79, near the central square of the city. The museum is housed in a building built in 1920, which is declared a historic monument. The museum has several thousand pieces that attest to the history of mining in the Jiu Valley, original documents, photocopies, sketches, mining equipment, overalls of miners and many other objects that outline the work of these people in the bowels of the earth. They are located both inside and in the courtyard of the building.

Looking at these exhibits, you are transposing, to some extent, into the skin of these people who have spent much of their lives underground.

The Mining Museum was established based on the Decision of the People's Council of the Hunedoara Region of August 4, 1961. Initially, the museum was located in a house located within the Central Park in Petrosani, and some changes were made, such as removing and replacing doors and modifying certain rooms. Due to the fact that the exhibition space was very small, it was decided to move the location of the museum to its current location in 1966. The museum arrangement in the building and outdoors was made by the cooperative "Decorativa" from Bucharest, a company specializing in exhibition arrangements.

In 1970, on October 18, the first Numismatic Section in Romania was established in the halls of the Mining Museum. In the years that followed, the Mining Museum was run in turn by professors Cornel Platon (1977-1978) and Dumitru Peligrad (1978-1993), and in 1993 the management of the Museum was passed to Engineer Gheorghe Poncis. Between 1996-1998 there was a administrative period only, when the capital repair of the museum building was made.

The museum also includes a geology section represented by rocks and plant and animal fossils, the evolution of mining technology in the Jiu Valley, represented by tools and machines along with various devices. All this is completed with the presentation of the evolution of social life in the Jiu Valley from ancient times to the present, highlighted by documents, photographs and old books. You can also admire objects dating back to 1900, such as a trolley used to transport water barrels to the mine or the bellow rescue devices, the first type of device of this kind, also from 1900 .

In the 7 halls of the museum there are hundreds of exhibits that present both the evolution of coal mining techniques in the Jiu Valley and specific objects of underground work. Some of them date back to the beginning of the last century.

În  timp, muzeul a devenit o instituție integrată în circuitul cultural din țară și străinătate. La 4 august 2011, s-au sărbătorit 50 de ani de existență și muzeul a ajuns să adăpostească peste 4.000 de exponate specifice. Conform Legii Muzeelor și a Colecțiilor Publice nr. 311/2003, actualizată în 2012, și a Normelor de Clasificare publicate în Monitorul Oficial în 2007, instituția din Petroșani reprezintă un muzeul de știință și tehnică, de importantă locală, care deține în patrimoniul sau muzeal, bunuri culturale mobile, reprezentative în plan local.

Ticket price:

• • adults: 3 lei
• • children, students: 1.5 lei

Photo source: ghidulmuzeelor.ro