About the Mine

St Barbara Mine is one of the oldest European copper and iron ore mines.

It is located in Rude village, five kilometres southwest from Samobor. Rude's rich mining tradition is evidenced by its very name, which changed throughout the history, but its names were always associated with mining - for example, Rovi and Fodinae. A widespread network of mining shafts used to run throughout the village, but nowadays about 350 meters of shafts are renovated and accessible to visitors, by artificial connection of shafts Sveto Trojstvo and Kokel. It is assumed that the mine existed in Rude as far back as the Roman times, but its existence has been verified and recorded as of the year 1481. A kind of golden age of the Rude mine was during the 16th century, when the copper production was twice the size of the total copper production in England, and four times the total production in Norway, and it reached one third of the total production of the famous Swedish mine in Falun. The firs miners who worked the mine were in major part immigrants from Germany - more precisely from Saxony and former Austria. The owners of the Rude mine were mostly foreign nobles and landowners, but the owners changed frequently, mostly due to financial crises. Following the mining for iron and copper ore, at the beginning of the 19th century the production turned to gypsum, and the gypsum production lasted well into the nineteen-fifties. During the 20th century a lot of research has been done for the purpose of reviving the mining industry in Rude, but the results showed that the copper and iron ore quantities were not economically feasible. Since then, the mining lifestyle of Rude has been all but lost.

During the 2002, the renovation and tourist restoration of former mining shafts began. The international project St. Barbara, initiated in 2005 after the initiative from prof. dr. Boris Šinkovec, the local KUD Oštrc and the residents of Rude, enabled the transformation of the parts of the abandoned mine into the mining museum in nature, and thus preserved the insight into the beauty of the Rude underground, and saved the memories of the valuable mining traditions.

The Mine has been managed by KUD Oštrc as of March 4, 2016.

Opening hours

From March 9 until December 4

  • Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Entrance in the Mine is organised every full hour. The latest entrance is scheduled at 5 p.m. 
  • weekdays by appointment only

From December 5 until March 8

  • every day, but only by previous appointment

Closed

  • January 1, Easter, November 1, December 25 and 26

Mine cannot be visited without a professional guide.

Admission price

 

Admission price

  • preschool children - free when accompanied by parents
  • single ticket – adults – €5
  • group ticket – adults (15 persons and more) – €4,5
  • single ticket – children (age 7 – 18), students and senior citizens – €4
  • group ticket – children, students and senior citizens (15 persons and more) – €3,5

The price of the ticket includes the professional guide.

For single visits or group visits of less than 15 persons during weekdays (Mo-Fri), additional cost of the guide (€25) is added to the regular ticket price.

The entrance to the Mine is organized EVERY FULL HOUR and tour lasts approximately 40 minutes. 

The temperature in the mine is approx. 12 °C, so layered sports clothing and robust footwear is recommended. Each visitor is supplied with protective gear (helmet and lab coat).

How to find us?

The Mine is a 10 minutes' easy walk from the centre of Rude.

 

 

It can be reached:

  • on foot from the Rude centre or from the Botanical garden Suban in Manja Vas - via the mining-botanical educational walkway and
  • by car - from the Rude centre via the asphalt road - follow the signposts to the mine (Rudnik), road unpaved for the last 200 meters.

Arrival by bus to the very entrance of the Mine is not possible. The bus can be parked at the parking place in the Rude centre.

 

 

Rude can be reached:

  • by car (County road Samobor – Rude – Plešivica – Jastrebarsko)
  • by bus (departure from the Bus station Samobor, line 143: Samobor – Rude – Braslovje, timetable available at Autoturist  and Samoborček