002.457.Idrija

Idrija Municipal Museum, Prelovčeva 9, SI-5280 Idrija

Public

Municipality of Idrija, Mestni trg 1, SI-5280 Idrija

Professional Library of Idrija Municipal Museum, M-73

Mine, Knowledge, social care

The booklet is small with a hardback cover. The covers are green, the edge and the spine are made of dark blue fabric. The title on the cover is printed inside a black frame with styled corners: Službeni red za delavce c. kr. rudniškega ravnateljstva v Idriji (translation: Working order for workers of the Imperial-Royal Mining Headship in Idrija). There is a symbol of the Austrian double-headed eagle under the title. The issue in Slovenian language was issued as independent printing matter simultaneously with the German version (M 680). The publication has 24 pages. It was printed in the R. Šeber printing house in Postojna. The working order has 33 articles. The content includes three sections: General Provisions, Special Provisions and Criminal Provisions. It was formed with the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture as a higher official body of the mines, owned by the state.

Length 19.8 cm, width 13.9 cm, height 0.3 cm.

Paper, cardboard.

1902

Imperial Royal Mining Directorate Idrija (Schmid), confirmed by the District Mining Office in Ljubljana (Dr Horiak, 2/3/1903).

Due to the special and dangerous circumstances of work within industries, legal relations, which regulated miners’ duties and rights in the mining judiciary and mining, were formed as early as in the high Middle Ages. The following mining orders were applied in the Idrija Mercury Mine in past centuries: Maksimilijan’s (1517), Ferdinand’s (1553), Karl’s Mining Order for Goriška and Carniola (1577), Karl’s Mining Order for Idrija (6/4/1580) and the State’s Mining Law (23/4/1854). Technological and social progress and political conditions no longer allowed only official proclamations which were published in the call room. Therefore, from the 1870s, the Mine Administration began to issue printed working orders for the mine workers: employees in the pit, smelting plant, cinnabar plant, auxiliary plants, administration and in management. The content included: general provisions regarding employment forms, the scope and methods of work for the workers and guards and criminal provision for different violations. Legal relations between the miners and the state in earlier issues of the mining order also express the gradual increase of miners’ social rights.

The booklet is being preserved, secured and presented as important mining heritage of Idrija with exceptional universal values. It is kept in the collection of library material (in analogue and digital form). It is available for researchers and the wider interested public. It can be used for mercury heritage promotions. Mining orders provide an insight into legal relations, obligations and rights and social position of all the workers of Idrija Mercury Mine. Due to a bilingual issue in German and Slovene, the mining order also offers an interesting insight into the development of professional mining terminology.

Imperial Royal Mining Directorate Idrija.

Professional Library of Idrija Municipal Museum.

The booklet is well preserved. Additional interventions are not necessary. Security of the premises is ensured.

good

Regular seasonal maintenance.

- Inventory Book of the Idrija Municipal Museum library.

Mestni muzej Idrija

Miha Kosmač

20. 3. 2018

Never