Today, after another early start, we visited the town of Kutna Hora. Located about an hour and half east of Prague, this town was the hub of the mining industry for a long time during the Medieval period, and it also became a cultural hub. In Kutna Hora, we visited the Sedelc Ossuary, St. Barbara’s Cathedral, and finished the day at the Silver Mine Museum. Each of these experiences provided a different perspective on the culture here, the Sedlec Ossuary contains a chamber that is decorated with human bones, from over 40,000 people, mainly those which died in the Hussite Wars, and around that period. St. Barbara’s Cathedral offered a truly stunning piece of architecture that has been evolving for the past couple hundred years. And finally, the silver mine, this visit gave us a view into how miners, who were the key to the production of silver coins for over 250 years, had to deal with harsh conditions and produce silver ore for the mint of the king.
I was especially intrigued by the engineering that went into the mining operation, in the 16th century. The piece of machinery that was most impressive was the pulley system that was used to extract raw material from the mine, which was up to 200m deep. This system was driven by 12 horses, and the original is still intact, it is able to lift up to one ton at any moment. It was inspiring to see how engineers of this time were able to use their limited resources and knowledge to produce such a powerful machine, and to build it with such quality that it is still operational today. This engineering was key to the Kingdom of Bohemia, given that their silver production was what gave it a big economic advantage, and without this engineering, there would be no advantage.
Swanson School of Engineering 