A warm scarf is not a bad idea for anyone wanting to go down into the mining galleries of one of the show pits to find out more about yet another of the Franconian Forest’s traditional industries - mining.

Although ore mining was the more economically beneficial it is the slate mining which has left a greater mark on the landscape: the slate facades of many houses particularly in the north are even more prolific than the half-timbering commonly associated with Franconia architecture and more common in the south of the region as in Kulmbach for example. Slate forms a visible link to the state of Thuringia and is tangible proof of the fact that the Franconian Forest is an offshoot of the Thuringian Forest.

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