Museum area 1 to 21
and underground environment
A decree promulgated by the Emperor MAximilian in 1517 , in force for all the regions of former Austria ( Alsace, Sundgau and Black Forest ) settled all the questions pertaining to the attribution of the mines, work and also the financial aspect..
It was made up of 83 rules:
The judge of the mines, to whom the minors are held accountable for their professional activity and who is the one who grant the mines.
Each mine has a special status and is worked by several individuals.
When a mine has a lot of ore, the Judge does not grant it before inspecting it first...
Each one of them depends from a general gallery maintained by a Lord's seigniory.
The one who receives a mine must begin to work and hire fellow workers in the two weeks following the signing of the lease.
The Minors: an autonomous and privileged "corporation".
Thanks to the presence of the judge of the mines, they are practically exempt from ordinary jurisdiction.
For their safety at work, they wear a sort of thick hat and a leather apron around their waist, mainly when they work with their back against humid walls.
In town, the minors wear a uniform. You can see some of them on the TELLURE site.
The personnel of the mines is composed as follows :
The mining personnel is composed of a minor in chief, minors working with stone, salesmen, two ordinary minors, ten dog runners, a "bocard master", a blacksmith and various workers…
