Underground museum of mining

The history of Pernik is closely connected with mining and began in the underground mine "Old Mines" in 1891. The mine was closed in 1966. In the 1980s a group of miners visited the salt mine Wielichka near Krakow and borrowed the idea to build a similar museum in Gingerbread. In 1986, the underground museum was opened. It is the only one in the Balkans and among the few in Europe.
Legends connect the mine with St. Ivan Rilski, so in 2012 an iconostasis dedicated to the saint was built in it. St. Ivan Rilski is the heavenly protector of Pernik and is considered the patron saint of Bulgarian miners.
Since 2013, the museum is included in the 100 national tourist sites of Bulgaria, but remains a little popular.
The underground museum comprises two mining galleries with a total length of about 600 m. There are expositions for mining in Bulgaria. There are authentic facilities for reinforcement, lighting and work in the mine. Mining transport equipment is presented. The museum has a multimedia hall. At the entrance of the museum is kept the "tree of happiness" - a petrified tree 50 million years old, which the miners touched for luck when entering the mine.
The visit to the museum is organized in groups led by a guide. Visitors enter with helmets and the constant temperature is just over 0 ° C.