Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas

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Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas
General information about the mine
Weisserdenzeche Huthaus.jpg
The former hut of the Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas (May 2009)
Mining technology Underground mining
Funding / year 60 t
Funding / total 8000 tons of kaolin
Information about the mining company
Operating company Veit Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Employees 30th
Start of operation 1700
End of operation 1855
Funded raw materials
Degradation of Kaolin / hematite / magnetite
Degradation of Hematite
Degradation of Magnetite
Geographical location
Coordinates 50 ° 34 '30.7 "  N , 12 ° 42' 58.4"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 34 '30.7 "  N , 12 ° 42' 58.4"  E
Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas (Saxony)
Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas
Location Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas
Location Heidelsberg
local community Aue-Bad Schlema
District ( NUTS3 ) Erzgebirgskreis
country Free State of Saxony
Country Germany
District Schneeberger Revier

Entrance area of ​​the hut house

The “ Weißerdenzeche” St. Andreas in Aue , where “white earth” ( kaolin ) was found for the first time in 1698 , was almost the sole supplier for the Saxon porcelain manufactory in Meissen until the middle of the 19th century .

The Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas is a selected site for the proposed candidacy for the UNESCO World Heritage Ore Mountains Mining Region .

geology

The starting point for the formation of the kaolin deposits in the white earth mine were granitic melt rivers that penetrated the bedrock formed from mica schists . The granite solidified from the magma formed a dome-shaped (conical) protrusion, which sagged by up to 4 meters as it cooled. In the cavity created between the granite and mica slate, hot mineral vapors penetrated, which led to the formation of quartz and feldspar . In the final phase of magma intrusion , rising hydrothermal waters led to kaolinization of the feldspar. A kaolin deposit was created which, with a thickness that decreased towards the edge, lay like a hood on the granite dome. The part of the deposit located on the apex of the granite dome was around 4 meters thick and comprised a kaolinite content of up to 25%. Between the apex of the deposit and the surface of the earth was a layer of mica slate that was only up to 6 meters thick.

After the kaolinization, however, the flanks of the granite dome together with the kaolin covering that ran out towards the edge sank by up to 30 meters due to faults. Veins with hematite and magnetite formed in the faults . In sections, the kaolin was also impregnated with iron minerals, so that this lower-lying area of ​​the deposit was partially unusable for porcelain production.

Overall, the white earth mine covered a comparatively small area of ​​approx. 100 by 100 meters with a content of approx. 8000 tons of kaolinite . The core of the deposit, the kaolinite lying directly on the top of the granite dome, comprised approx. 5600 tons. In the parts of the deposit that had sunk due to faults, another 2400 tons were stored.

Discovery of the "white earth"

The beginnings of mining on Auer Heidelsberg go back to the 17th century. The subject of the mining were the iron ore veins that were quarried for the operation of the Auerhammer . In 1700 miners from the Roter St. Andreas colliery came across the "white earth" for the first time. The owner of the pit, the hammer and blue paint master Veit Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld , initially used it in his own blue paint factory in Niederpfannenstiel , where it served as an admixture for the production of Eschel . It was also used for the manufacture of refractory bricks for smelting furnaces for cobalt smelting. Schnorr suspected the newly discovered deposit in 1700 under the name Weißer St. Andreas Fundgrube and was the sole owner of all 128 Kuxe .

Supplier to the Meissen porcelain manufactory

Keystone of the
St. Andreas colliery entrance

In 1708 August the Strong had his Saxon mining authorities deliver samples for suitable clay for porcelain manufacture. According to legend, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus made the first porcelain beaker with the help of a white earth sample sent in from the Schneeberg mining authority in the Ore Mountains . The Schnorr clay proved to be an important raw material for the production of porcelain, so that in 1711 Schnorr was granted the privilege of supplying the newly founded Meissen porcelain factory alone. As a result, he was able to expand his pit field.

After the new owner Johann Enoch Schnorr von Carolsfeld had made deliveries to Vienna and Venice , Elector August the Strong forbade the export of the precious china clay in 1729. During this time (1728–30) other kaolin pits (including God's fate in Bockau , White Mouse Treasure Trove in Grünstädtel ) were bought and closed by the Elector . The private labor mining on kaolin was also prohibited, as was the use of kaolin for the manufacture of refractory furnace bricks.

Mandates from 1745 and 1749 threatened harsh penalties, including hanging, for anyone who brought “white earth” out of the country. However, Frederick II of Prussia was able to confiscate transports from Aue during the Seven Years' War , which he had sent to his porcelain factory in Berlin , founded in 1742 . In 1764, the export ban was extended to the effect that officials who neglected their duty of supervision were threatened with a fine of 100 guilders for each wagon loaded with "white earth". Driving on the Weißenerdenzeche St. Andreas had been strictly forbidden to strangers since 1711 (the ban was only relaxed in 1838). The products were transported weekly by sworn carters in barrels secured with four seals.

From 1745 onwards, Elector Friedrich August II sought to take over and nationalize the mine, so that he bought Kuxe whenever the opportunity arose. In 1750, 68 kuxe were owned by the state, but the remaining 59 remained with the heirs of the Schnorr family. From 1752 the mountain master von Schneeberg supervised the mining operations as state commissioner. In the same year the electoral order was issued to look for kaolin elsewhere in Saxony. In 1764 the deposit in Seilitz was discovered.

By 1810 the stocks in the apex of the granite dome were almost completely dismantled. Due to the exhaustion of this part of the deposit, the quality of the delivered kaolin also deteriorated, so that sales of the products of the Meissen porcelain factory decreased. In order to keep the pit from being closed, the exploration of the deeper-lying continuations of the dome occurrence in the faults on the flanks of the granite stock began. To explore the “New Camps”, the kaolin stored in deeper areas on the southwest flank of the granite dome was made accessible from 1817 through the New Andreas day shaft , which reached its final depth of 64 meters in 1850 . At the same time, the new depth Roten-Andreas-Stolln , which had been laid out since 1764, was further advanced.

From around 1820 the kaolin deposits began to be mined in the "New Camps". At the same time, there was brisk mining of the iron ore present in the ore veins. Five years later, mining captain Sigismund August Wolfgang von Herder drove into the mine. In 1828 the porcelain manufacturer acquired 56 Kuxe for 150 thalers each. Almost all of the mine parts were now in state hands.

After the quality of deliveries from Aue had deteriorated sharply around 1840, the porcelain manufactory increasingly switched to deliveries from Sornzig and Seilitz. Although an artificial tool powered by a water wheel was installed in 1844 to mine the deposits located below the bottom of the Neue Tief Roten-Andreas-Stolln , the extraction became increasingly unprofitable from 1849 onwards, as only smaller and inferior kaolin nests were discovered. In 1851 the Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas delivered kaolin to the Meissen porcelain factory for the last time. On November 12, 1855, the mine was finally shut down. In gratitude for the 150-year supply of kaolin, the Meißner manufactory donated three porcelain pictures for the altar for the new building of the Nikolaikirche in Aue.

In 1912 the area including the hut became the property of the city of Aue. Since 1994, the Aue City Museum, the former white earth mine and the Obere Vestenburger Stolln (formerly wandering ) have been connected by an approximately 2 km long educational mining trail and can be visited.

Funding and employment figures

The Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas delivered around 8000 tons of kaolinite to the Meissen porcelain manufactory over the course of 150 years of operation. Funding figures have been handed down since 1713. The quarrying of the kaolinite lying on the top of the granite dome in the amount of about 5600 tons took place until 1810. The average output until 1780 was about 44 tons per year. In the period between 1780 and 1810, the output could be increased to an average of around 85 tons per year. Another 2400 tons were extracted from the deposits in the new camp by 1851, i.e. H. an average of about 60 tons per year.

In terms of its workforce, the Weißerdenzeche was one of the small Ore Mountains mines despite its economic importance. The dismantling was carried out in 1780/84 with a workforce of 10. In 1806 30 miners worked for the mine, made up of 1 steiger, 3 hunters, 11 farmhands and 15 mountain boys . During the last decades of operation in the 19th century, the workforce comprised an average of around 30 men.

The buildings of the colliery

In 1705 a hut house , a sheath and a drying house as well as a mud house were built for the first colliery . After the first hat house fell victim to a fire, it was rebuilt in 1792. In 1828 the mine operator had a new hut built on the New Andreas . In 1912 the disused tunnel with the building fell to the city of Aue. At the time of purchase, it was stipulated that kaolin would never be extracted from this mine again and that no industrial operations could take place on the property. The city administration leased the hut to the citizens' association founded in 1863 . After a number of problems caused by the First World War and inflation, the Bürgerheim , an accommodation for elderly married couples and single elderly citizens, was opened in 1920 . Up to 1933 the water supply was modernized, the area improved and finally an extension was added. All renovation and conversion measures were based on plans by the architect Hans Kästner. After the Second World War the city Aue briefed the building complex as Feierabendheim one. After a fire in 1984, the property was empty until 1990. Then private people bought it and had it restored. You intend to set up an excursion restaurant with a boarding house in the listed hut house.

literature

  • Werner Finke: The Weisserdenzeche St. Andreas zu Aue , in: Bergglöckchen - magazine of the Saxon State Association of Miners, Huts and Knappenvereine eV, edition 01/2007, p. 4
  • Curt Reinhardt: Documented history of the white earth mine St. Andreas near Aue in the Ore Mountains, the first china earth mine in Europe. A contribution to the history of mining in the Ore Mountains and the Meissen porcelain factory , Auer Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Aue 1925
  • Siegfried Sieber : The Weißerdenzeche St. Andreas zu Aue . In: Heimatkundliche Blätter issue 1/1957, pp. 12–17
  • Stadtverwaltung Aue (Ed.): Aue, Mosaiksteine ​​der Geschichte , Verlag Mike Rockstroh, Aue 1997 (p. 43–48: “White earth makes history”)
  • Otfried Wagenbreth : The kaolin mining in the "Weißenerdezeche Weißer St. Andreas" near Aue / Erzgeb. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter, issue 2/2004, pp. 138–152
  • Lothar Walter: The white gold of the Auer miners , in: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter Heft 5/1982, pp. 105-108

Web links

Commons : Weißerdenzeche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files