- Art & Culture
- Mountains
The Bagnada mine and museum
THE MINE PLANT
SIt develops on nine different levels, four of which can be visited. Here you can see different kinds of tunnels: exploited veins, service tunnels, slopes, walkways, tunnels and empty spaces used for the sterile material search.
You can see the little reserve which is the place where the explosives were stored and the charges prepared;
at the lower level you can admire the “Camerone” and there, thanks to the special acoustics of its high vaults, concerts and other musical events are held. You can see different tools used during the mine work: trolleys, drills and the lightening of the acetylene lamps whose suggestive light accompanies the visitors until the exit. The mine rock walls are snow-white and reflect the artificial light illuminating in this way the entire environment all around. Furthermore, unlike other mines with narrow shafts, the Bagnada mine has very large tunnels and so even claustrophobic visitors can go into without any problem.
The mine is equipped with special audio-visual effects that make it be the highest emotional part of the Museum.
THE MINING HERITAGE MUSEUM
It collects tools which were typical of the mining and extraction activity. Among the most precious exhibits there is a very ancient hydraulic lathe (some components date back to the end of 18th century) that was used to make the lavécc, the typical pot made of pietra ollare and used in the past. Explanatory panels, pictures and subject-based charters introduce the visitor to the mine world and to the territorial history.
THE MINERALOGICAL MUSEUM
Valmalenco is one of the richest area in minerals in the Alps. A lucky geological situation has made possible to concentrate a great variety of mineralogical species (about 265) in few square kilometers. These are very important figures, considering that 5090 is the total amount all around the world (IMA data, 2016). Two species, artinite and brugnatellite, were found here for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century. There are also some crystallizations that are so remarkable, for their dimensions, morphological and optical features, to be considered the best ones in the world. We can, for instance, mention the demantoid, which is almost impossible to find and that has become the symbol of the local mineralogy.
You can see all these things at the Mineralogical Museum in Lanzada.
