The Roman Galleries of Roşia Montană
Wandering through one of the most extensive networks of Roman gold mines in the world.
At first sight, Roşia Montană is only a small Transylvanian commune, situated in the Apuseni Mountains of Romania. But if you dig a little deeper you’ll find that, among other things, this place is often associated with gold. It has been the center of a long-running debate and was very close to becoming Europe’s largest open-pit gold mine operation.
The well-known rich mineral resources of Roşia Montană have been exploited since the days of the Roman Empire or even before. Two thousand years ago, the Romans founded Alburnus Maior, a mining town, with Illyrian colonists from South Dalmatia. There is even a reference to the Roman town on a wax tablet, dated 6 February 131, which was found during archeological excavations.
Among all the things the archeologists have discovered at Roşia Montantă, such as dwellings, necropolises, mining tools, and inscriptions in Greek and Latin, there were also the incredible mining galleries. It is believed that Roşia Montană’s underground hides more than 100 kilometers of tunnels dug by traditional methods from antiquity to modern times. Of those, only 7 kilometers have been researched so far.
The exact length is not known because the network that has existed for nearly 2000 years has not been fully explored until now. Due to their length and degree of preservation, the Roman galleries from Roşia Montană are unique in the world and experts recommend adding them to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While we wait for this to happen (and I hope it will, because it will probably lead to economic growth of the area), we went there to see the wonder with our own eyes.
Thanks to a Mining Museum that opened here in 1981, about 250 meters out of the known 7 kilometers of Roman galleries are open for tourists. Because the museum is open from Monday to Friday between 8 am and 2 pm, we had to drive 300 kilometers in a hurry to get there in time. Eventually, we started the tour at 2 pm along with a group of 35–40 tourists.
After telling us the story of mining in Roşia Montană, the guide opened the door of the galleries and led us inside. She told us that we would have to go down many stairs. Actually, she told us the exact number, about 100+. I don’t remember how many there were and I didn’t count them, but I felt like the stairs will never end.
When we finally reached the end of the stairs, as always when I’m venturing through narrow or underground spaces, I began to feel a little claustrophobic. However, crossing a few hundred meters through the gallery seemed very quick and as interesting as I expected.
At the end of the tunnel we all stopped and spent some time down there, debating Roşia Montană controversial project or Romans vs. Dacians subjects. Then some tourists started walking back toward the exit on their own. There was a little chaos, I must say, but we got out of there safe.
“Everyone got out safe.”
At the end of the tour I asked another guide from the Mining Museum about the mining gallery’s maximum capacity. “60–65 persons”, he answered.
I was very curious about the size of the largest group that ever went in the Roman galleries. “130 persons, all at a time, went down in the Roman Galleries”, the guide told me. “This happened last year, during a festival. They came in this big group and insisted to go down all together. So we let them go. Nothing bad happened. Everyone got out safe.”
Photo credit: Cristian Sitov
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