Carnall Shaft

The Carnall Shaft in Zabrze is a former drainage shaft of the Queen Louise Mine, sunk in the mid-19th century. Today it is part of an open-air mining museum and the point from which visitors descend to the Main Hereditary Adit. The winding tower is 31.5 m high and has a viewing point.

Origin of the name and how the shaft changed

The name comes from Rudolf von Carnall, from 1856 director of the Higher Mining Office in Wrocław, which oversaw the Zabrze mine. Sinking began in 1853, because the old drainage adit could not keep pace with draining the deeper coal seams. In 1873 the shaft was 210 m deep and had a 22-metre brick tower, with a steam engine inside driving two pumps. In the same year it was deepened to 270 m.

Four years later the shaft was thoroughly rebuilt: the tower with the drainage engine was demolished and replaced by a steel winding tower and a new engine house. The shaft reached its final depth of 503 m in 1912, and the last pre-war reconstruction took place in 1929-1931.

After the mine closed

In 1965-1979 the Mining Promotion Centre operated here, and tourists went down to the 503 level. In 1990 the shaft was backfilled, and since 1993 it has been part of the Queen Louise open-air museum, a branch of the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze. In 2009, when the adit was opened to visitors, it was excavated to a depth of 40 m, and in 2015 a staircase compartment was built in it. A viewing platform with a panorama of Zabrze was installed on the tower.

The steam engine from 1915

The Carnall Zone has a winding engine from 1915, built by the Eisenhütte Prinz Rudolph company in Dülmen. The museum describes it as the only steam engine of this type in Poland that is still working, with a power of 2,000 hp, which served a shaft 503 m deep. It is started up during demonstrations. The route continues to the Queen Louise Adit, and nearby is also the Military Technology Museum in Zabrze.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Wolności 408, Zabrze (Carnall Zone, engine house of the Carnall Shaft).
• Demonstrations of the steam engine are held at regular times during the day; check the dates and hours on the Coal Mining Museum website before your visit.
• The site also has exhibitions on the history of the mine, electrification and mine rescue.
• A larger route in the area is the Guido Mine.