Schleitheim Gypsum Museum
The Schleitheim Gypsum Museum is located in front of the last still accessible gypsum tunnel in the region. The museum informs about the in 18./19. Gypsum mining, which was intensively pursued in the 19th century in the region in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen . The Foundation for the Promotion of the Gypsum Mine and Gypsum Museum Schleitheim is responsible for the operation .
The museum is located in the Oberwiesen district, around 300 m before the Schleitheim- Stühlingen border crossing (D). A sign marks the entrance. The museum has parking spaces and a rest area.
Raw material gypsum
Some of the gypsum deposits in the Schleitheim area extend to the surface of the soil and are deposited in the Keuper . Larger deposits are located in the lower layers of the shell limestone in the range of hills between the Wutach and Schleitheim valleys . The former mine field covered around 50,000 m². In the Schleitheim municipal account of 1712, an entry draws attention to the local recycling of gypsum. The oldest written evidence to date dates from 1709 in the building history of the Rheinau ZH monastery church , where Schleitheim plaster was used for the interior work.
First, the gypsum deposits were mined in aboveground fractures. In 1790 the first tunnel was built to extract the gypsum underground. As a result, more tunnels were built in the area of the community of Schleitheim. The raw material gypsum was laboriously extracted by hand in the mountain and transported outside in wagons. The stones were processed into plaster of paris in separate operations. Unburned gypsum flour found sales in agriculture, and burned gypsum in the construction industry. The beautiful stucco ceilings of the Rococo and Baroque ages , which were made of plaster, are known. However, around 70 percent of the Schleitheim gypsum was used as so-called field gypsum. Gypsum flour binds the ammonia and creates a soil-revitalizing effect, which increases the fertility of plants, especially clover. The sales area extended far beyond the borders of the canton. In 1860, 180,000 quintals of gypsum stones were broken. In the years 1931 to 1935 it was around 1,300 tons per year. The deep drilling for Salz between 1823 and 1838 was unsuccessful.
Further processing of the gypsum blocks
The stones were broken in so-called stamps or in hammer mills (see also mill in the hamlet ) and then dried at low temperatures (pre-firing). The pieces of plaster of paris, crushed and fired in this way, were fed to the mill and ground into gypsum flour. Then the gypsum flour was heated again (boiled, main fire), depending on the purpose, and then delivered to the customers in barrels and sacks by cart. In Schleitheim there were 10 mills which processed gypsum. The gypsum quarrying as well as the further processing and the associated construction of a works channel (1872) for energy generation by means of two turbines were decisive for the creation of an industrial area in Oberwiesen.
During the heyday, up to 150 people worked in gypsum mining and processing as well as in ancillary trades. With the advent of high-quality fertilizers around 1900, the demand for fertilizer plaster fell; The Swiss Gypsum Union bought the Schleitheim plant in 1903 and shut it down.
After the temporary use of a gypsum gallery as a fruit cellar, another one served the local brewer as a beer warehouse, a new attempt was made in 1927 to mine gypsum. In 1936 a new tunnel was opened. The gypsum blocks were bought by the Portland Cement Works in Thayngen . In 1944, however, the end of the gypsum mining in Schleitheim came to an end.
Plaster museum since 1938
The family of the last operator of the gypsum mine, the Stamm book printers, set up a gypsum museum in 1938 and took interested parties to the mine. In 1962 the plant went to the municipality, which later transferred it to a foundation for maintenance. In 1992 the access tunnel, which had collapsed in the meantime, was made accessible again and the entire visitor passage was secured and electrically illuminated. In 1996 the museum was completely renovated. It shows the origin of the gypsum, the deposits in the region, the tools for the mining, the further processing in a pestle and a mill as well as uses. The operation is now guaranteed by an executive committee and hobby guides.
Web links
- Gipsmuseum (museum-schleitheim.ch)
- Schleitheim Gypsum Museum at myswitzerland.com
- Gypsum Museum / Gypsum Mine Schleitheim (museums.ch)
Coordinates: 47 ° 44 '55.3 " N , 8 ° 27' 39.3" E ; CH1903: six hundred seventy-six thousand six hundred sixty-six / 289,178