Styrian Erzberg

The Styrian Erzberg near Eisenerz is the largest iron-ore open-pit mine in Central Europe; its striking mining terraces form a giant stepped cone. In the show mine and aboard the huge Hauly truck, active mining can be experienced. The mountain is also known for the Erzbergrodeo hard-enduro race.

Highlights

• Largest iron-ore open-pit mine in Central Europe
• Striking mining terraces (stepped cone)
• Show mine and Hauly truck ride
• Hard-enduro race Erzbergrodeo

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

Above the Styrian town of Eisenerz rises the Erzberg, an entire mountain of ironstone whose flanks have been quarried into a huge, terraced stepped pyramid. Ore has been extracted here for over a thousand years, documented as far back as the early Middle Ages, which makes the Erzberg one of the oldest continuously operated mines in the world. The rich deposits once made the region the heart of the Styrian iron industry and shaped the economy, language and self-image of whole generations of miners.

Styria does not bear the byname “the green march” for nothing, yet at the Erzberg it is the rust-red rock that dominates, giving the mountain a distinctive, almost lunar appearance. Even in Celtic and Roman times the area around ancient Noricum was famous for its high-quality steel, which was traded far beyond its borders. Over the centuries the miners on the mountain created a culture of their own, with customs, songs and the veneration of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners, whose traces remain alive in the region to this day. Today ore is still extracted in open-cast mining, while visitors roll over the terraces on enormous shovel vehicles and ride into the tunnels. The Erzberg is thus at once an industrial monument and a working mine, a mountain whose history has inscribed itself into the landscape step by step.