Secrets underfoot
Throughout our childhood in the Teplice region, abandoned places with the remains of industrial buildings were a big mystery to us. While playing “outside”, we constantly came across concrete skeletons, strange gates and bridges, or the remains of railway tracks in places that made no sense. We went on expeditions through impenetrable thickets that had apparently been abandoned for decades. Back then, we called them “Teplice mysteries” and none of us had a concrete idea of what they actually meant.
Wenzel Mine and Frankonia Teplice Cargo Street
Today we know that most of these secrets – smoking heaps, old tailings and mine shafts – were part of a massive mining operation that shaped not only the distant horizon but also the streets we lived in. It’s a fascinating moment: you’ve been looking out the window for years at something unknown, only to suddenly realize that you’re looking at an abandoned brown coal mine right in the middle of the city. Suddenly, even the closed houses in Trnovany, with the symbol of inverted hammers on the doors and the inscription “Do not enter – mined”, start to make sense. It’s those hammers, turned to the ground, that are a silent witness to the end of an era.
All of us who live in this region walk through abandoned mine workings every day, and it is surprising to discover what lies beneath us. This lecture will allow you to see your native region in a new, surprising perspective. You will become a tourist in your own city, and thanks to old archives, unique maps, and modern visualizations, we will absorb the spirit of these places together. Let's uncover the secrets that lie hidden right under our feet.
The event takes place in the conference hall of the Bílinská kyselka on the first floor, which you can reach through the Info Center, where the entrance fee is 70,- for children under 15 years of age and 150,- for those 15 years of age and older.
We look forward to spending the afternoon together.
