Major Tourist Attraction
The silver mines are situated in Saggrenda, approximately 8 kilometres west of Kongsberg. Visitors to the King's Mine, the biggest mine in the Kongsberg area, board the mining train which takes them through the 2,300 metres of the Christian VII Adit. The bottom of the mine is 1,070 metres below the surface, which corresponds to 560 metres below sea level. Since its closure in 1958, the silver mines has been a preserved area. It's now open for guided tours for tourists, of whom some 40,000 every year enter the Kings Mine, which is the oldest, deepest, and richest mine in Kongsberg. On the tour, you can see the first man engine in Kongsberg in action. You can also see an impressive three-dimensional map of all the mines, a stope blown out with dynamite and the adits excavated by fire-setting.
For a more physically demanding trip, tours are arranged from the Kings Mine through the Lower Mountain down to Kongsberg city, a trip of roughly five hours.
Read more about this topic: Kongsberg Silver Mines
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