Besucherbergwerk Freudenstadt, Silver ore mine in Freudenstadt, Germany.

The Besucherbergwerk Freudenstadt is a closed silver mine with three levels connected by steel ladders that descend to 30 meters deep. The passages still contain original mining equipment and mineral deposits that show what work here looked like.

The Heilige Drei Könige mine was begun around 1530 near older shafts, with a 36 m surface shaft, a 10 m crosscut and a 12 m blind shaft below; work stopped before 1550. Duke Christoph of Württemberg, keen on mining, issued a new mining ordinance in 1551, and from 1559 the blind shaft was deepened to a total depth of 69 m. Mining ceased around 1562, as no silver or copper ore had been found.

The mine is named after the Heilige Drei Könige (Holy Three Kings), first explicitly recorded when a mining association held it between 1560 and 1564. Visitors descend into the former exploration gallery and see the handhaspel chamber, where a wooden winch shaft found on the middle level was dated by dendrochronology to 1560.

Access is via steel ladders in a tight space, so some mobility is needed and sturdy footwear is recommended. The constant underground temperature stays around 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit), so bring a jacket.

The wooden winch found on the middle shaft's level was dated by dendrochronology to 1560, give or take five years. In the winch chamber above the lower shaft, five characters are cut into the rock; they can be read either as the year 1556 or as 1561.