Saving history from oblivion - Kostolac to get Mining Museum in 2013

The municipality of Pozarevac will be able to include the Mining Museum in its tourist offer as of 2013. The company Termoelektrane i Kopovi Kostolac (Kostolac Steam Power Plants and Mines) has started preparations for the formation of that museum, to honor a decades-long mining tradition of that region.

Momcilo Gardinovic, the project manager, says for eKapija that the future museum will be situated on the open pit Klenovnik, which is not in use any more, and the complex will comprise a 320-square-meter indoor gallery and a 2-hectare open space.

- The Belgrade Mining Institute is currently working on the project documentation. The plan is to have the administrative building of the open pit Klenovnik reconstructed and turned into a museum, and then to have its exterior additionally enhanced. The indoor gallery will be the place to exhibit old tools and photos of machines, whereas dredges, locomotives, machines will be put on display in the outdoor space - says our interlocutor.

He points out that the museum in Kostolac will be modern and that it will not include old exhibits only, but that it will also enable an interactive approach.

- We plan to acquire up-to-date equipment like video beam and projectors. The Mining Museum will be the place where our complete history will be presented in a modern and, primarily, educational way - says Garadinovic.

According to the plan, green areas, walking trails, fountains and an amphitheater will be placed in the outdoor space of the museum.

The team from Kostolac is working hard on this assignment, and the project documentation is planned to be finished until the end of 2011. According to the words of our interlocutor, the museum may be opened in 2013.

An organized exploitation of coal on the territory of the Kostolac basin commenced in 1870. The person who is the most responsible for the opening of Stari Kostolac pit is Djordje Weifert, an industrialist from Belgrade.