Theresa Mine

The Theresa Mine (Theresien-Schacht; Szyb Teresa) was a coal-mining shaft and mining installation in Reussendorf, now Rusinowa, a district of Wałbrzych in Lower Silesia. It served the former Cäsar colliery and, after 1945, became part of the mining areas of the Thorez (later Julia) mine.^[1][2] From the early 20th century, the shaft was also linked to Kamieńsk by the Theresaschacht material ropeway, which carried coal from the preparation plant to a railway siding.^[3][4] The surviving headframe complex is one of the best-known relics of the Wałbrzych coalfield and now houses the Museum of Mining and Motor Sports.^[2][5]

Coal mining in the Rusinowa area is documented from the 18th century. According to the heritage record for the site, extraction in the later Theresa area began in 1770, while the historic Theresien mining district included the fields and mines Cäsar, Glückauf, Bergrecht, Gnade Gottes and Neue Gnade Gottes from the 1770s onward.^[1] The first known cartographic documentation of the area also dates from that period.^[1]

By 1833, several older fields had been united into the Consolidierte Cäsar mine. In 1863 the Wałbrzych porcelain manufacturer Carl Krister acquired the colliery, and in 1877 the enterprise was reorganized as Neue Consolidierte Cäsar.^[3]

The Theresa Shaft was sunk from the surface at about +489 m through porphyry and had reached the +413 m level by around 1844.^[1] Initially it had a rectangular cross-section with two compartments, one for hoisting and one with ladders; ventilation was provided through the nearby Anton and Jakob shafts.^[1]

The shaft was deepened repeatedly in the second half of the 19th century: in 1864–1868 to the +370 m level, in 1872 to +315 m, in 1875–1883 to +245 m, and in 1895–1896 to +185 m.^[1][2] Wioletta Wrona-Gaj describes the original tower as a probable 1864 bastion-like structure with a tent roof, octagonal corner turrets and arcaded window openings; successive deepenings brought repeated rebuilding.^[2]

By 1912, the shaft was 310 m deep and was equipped with a drum winding engine powered by two steam piston engines; the mine employed 426 workers in that year.^[1] A contemporary industrial description identified the Theresienschacht as the principal installation of the Cäsar mine together with its coal-washing plant and coke works.^[6]

From 1901, coal cleaned in the preparation plant was transported from Theresa Shaft by an aerial material ropeway to the railway siding at Kamieńsk (now part of Jedlina-Zdrój). Contemporary and later local documentation describes the line as about 3.1 km long; historical postcard views dating from 1907 to 1913 also document the ropeway linking the shaft site with Kamieńsk.^[3][4][7]

After the mine had been bought by the Hochberg family of Fürstenstein, plans were made to connect it underground with the neighbouring Sophie mine, with the Theresa Shaft intended to serve as a peripheral man-riding and ventilation shaft.^[1] In 1922, production was halted and modernization began; the shaft lining was rebuilt from a rectangular to a circular section and widened.^[1]

The surviving tower received its final characteristic form in 1930, when a steel single-strut headframe was inserted into the older brick structure.^[1][2] By that time, however, the mine was in decline. The workings were eventually flooded, and the former Cäsar property passed into the Waldenburger Bergwerks A.G. in 1930.^[3]

After the Second World War, the former Cäsar mine was renamed Teresa and attached as the Teresa field to the Thorez mine.^[1] The shaft itself was then inaccessible and waterlogged.^[1] In 1953 a decision was taken to dewater the old workings and deepen the shaft to the +50 m level; dewatering was completed in 1954 and deepening in 1958.^[1]

In 1959 the Theresa Shaft was incorporated into the ventilation system of the Thorez mine and functioned as an intake shaft; later it also served for materials and access.^[1][2] The heritage trail of the Stara Kopalnia centre gives the final depth of the shaft as 438 m.^[5]

The shaft was closed in 1992 during the liquidation of the Wałbrzych coal industry and was filled with waste rock.^[1] Unlike many other former mine structures in the city, the Theresa Shaft complex survived. In the 21st century it entered new private use and became home to the Museum of Mining and Motor Sports.^[2][5]

Architecturally, the Theresa Shaft is notable for its hybrid form: an older 19th-century brick tower transformed by later rebuilding and topped by a 20th-century steel headframe.^[2] It is one of the surviving mining monuments of Wałbrzych and an important reminder of the former Cäsar mine and of the wider history of the Wałbrzych coal basin.^[2][8]

• Wioletta Wrona-Gaj: Dolnośląskie wieże nadszybowe typu malakow – geneza, rozwój architektoniczny, dzieje współczesne. In: Ochrona Zabytków, 2022, no. 2, pp. 103–123.
• J. Wójcik: Tereny pokopalniane Zagłębia Wałbrzyskiego 20 lat po zakończeniu eksploatacji węgla kamiennego. In: Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 90 (2018), no. 2, pp. 247–276.