Conservation of the european mining and metallurgical heritage. Part 1

Some five hundred ancient mines in Europe have been turned into historical mining museums, protected natural areas, recreational parks, etc. Historically, one of the fundamental pillars of the economy, the mining industry leaves us with an important heritage and the cultural roots of the mining communities. The first instructions for an inventory of machines, plans and documents of historical value appeared in France in 1790. Shortly thereafter the Parisian inventory was created (1791), considered to be the first technical museum of the world.(1) Something similar took place in London a short time afterwards. Spain provided a pioneering example along this line with the Royal Order of March 15, 1850 which established the Industrial Museum, a section of which was to have been dedicated to mining.(2) The project, however, remained only on paper, due to an accumulating state budget defici