002.73.Idrija

Idrija Mercury Heritage Management Center, Bazoviška 2, SI-5280 Idrija; Idrija Municipal Museum, Prelovčeva 9, SI-5280 Idrija

Public

Republic of Slovenia

EŠD 4822

Mine, Transport - shafts , Built heritage - industrial

Francis' shaft consists of the entrance building and a shaft, which connects the surface with the underground. The shaft is excavated into the rock and is entirely built with brick and plastered. Today, the modern elevator with a cage is used for transport, and it replaced the classic mining export machine with a two-storey cage in 2008. It lowers to a depth 221.4 under the surface (altitude of 123.8 m) or to the IX main level. Bearing walls of the entrance building are differently thick. The wooden mezzanine construction is preserved towards the attic. The roof construction is wooden, multi-eave with a trapezoidal gallows system. External walls are plastered and painted. All the windows are wooden, double leaf and horizontally and vertically segmented. The headframe is located above the shaft and the export area. It pierces through the export shaft facility and is designed as a 23 m high construction. The headframe support is located outside the building. At the top of the headframe there are two wheels, which lead the steel wires into the engine room and are covered with a symmetrical double-eaved roof. At the top of the headframe there is a typical mining symbol, a hammer and chisel.

Francis' shaft lowers to the XI main level (271.57 m under the surface, altitude of 65.21 m). Building area 951 m2, height 14.4 m.

Stone, rock, steel, brick, wood.

1792

Idrija Mercury Mine

Francis' shaft served mainly to transport miners and material to the XI main level and for export the ore to the surface. Its construction dates back to the end of the 18th century, and therefore coincides with the general development of the mine and Idrija town at that time. The development of the production and newly discovered ore deposits have contributed to the extensive process of ore processing and price increases. At the same time, mercury trade with Spain has also escalated. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the shaft building experienced several reconstructions due to the gradual technology development. After World War II, Francis’s Shaft was renamed to the Borba shaft. The significant part of the shaft building was the engine room. Initially, the steam export machine was installed, and later, the electrical export machine Siemens (Vienna, 1911) with safety devices, drive machine and steering-control station. The building also included the workshops, lamp house (charging station for carbide lamps), premises of the Mining Rescue Station, bathrooms with changing rooms for employees, warehouses, compression and transformation station and the boiler room.

Francis' shaft is being preserved, secured and presented as an important monument of Idrija mining heritage with exceptional universal values. Several activities take place in the Francis’ shaft building. In the entrance building part, the collection of 29 restored mining machines and devices are exhibited. The Kley steam pump is presented “in situ”. They represent the valuable specimens of the mining technical heritage. The part of the building where the export area is located is intended for the maintenance activity of the unfilled part of the pit. This part also contains the lamp house, the boiler room, two supervisory offices, the workshop, the premises of the Mining Rescue Station, bathrooms with changing rooms for employees, the warehouses and the compression and transformation station. The archive of the CUDHg is placed in one part of the floor. A part of the building has a restored Siemens-Halske export machine from 1912, which is not available for visitors. The shaft is still active today. It is passable with the elevator to the III level and by foot on ladders to the IX main level. It serves for maintaining the unfilled part of the pit and the temporal pumping station of the pit water is located on the IX main level (215 m under the surface). The mine, including the shaft, is backfilled between the IX and the XV main levels.

2357 Idrija - town, building no. 472.

2357 Idrija – town, building no. 472 and 474, lot no. 1168 (part), including the shaft to the depth of the IX main level.

- 2004: the shaft building – roof replacement and external wall renovation,
- 2008: the shaft with the elevator;
- 1992 and 1998: arrangements of the premises for exhibition purposes – collection of mining machinery and devices;
- 2009: “in situ” presentation of the Kley pump;
- 2016: renovation of the engine room and the Siemens-Halske export machine.

good

Performing regular maintenance services in accordance with the guidelines of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, including the status control and preservation, security and presentation of the heritage.

- The Cultural Heritage Register of the Republic of Slovenia;
- Ordinance on the proclamation of the technical heritage in the Idrija and its surroundings for cultural monuments of national importance. Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia no. 66/01, 55/02, 16/08.

Mestni muzej Idrija

Miha Kosmač

2. 3. 2018

Never