Working conditions @museum.de

Granite is a stone from the depths. It only reached the earth's surface over thousands of years: firstly through movements in the earth's crust and secondly through gradual erosion on the surface. In many places in the Königshain Mountains, it rose high into the sky. This is where stone quarrying once began. Levels were dug into the granite rocks for the workers to stand on. Simple ladders led to the top. In the beginning, the men simply pulled the stone slabs out of the walls by hand. At least until 1900, when things gradually went deeper and deeper. The workers now had to descend up to 50 meters. They did not wear any special work clothes. They wore simple linen pants and shirts. They had clogs on their feet and wore caps on their heads to protect them from the sun. Of course, they also worked in winter. Then the men wore thick sweaters and their feet were not socks but straw overshoes to protect them from the snow.

Yeah, I really feel sorry for the people. They always have to put something on because they have no fur.

And no feathers either. That would make so many things easier for them... But what I still don't understand are those clogs. How they can even climb up and down ladders in them!

Leather shoes simply broke too quickly. The material is too soft, and wooden clogs don't have seams that can tear. So the stone workers just had to learn to walk in them. I mean, people are great at learning. They wouldn't have gotten this far in this world without learning.

They also had to learn how to use newly invented machines. The deeper they descended, the more difficult it became to break the stones out of the wall. At first they used hammers and splitting wedges, but then automatic pneumatic hammers appeared. They made it easier to break stones. But they made a terrible noise right from the start.

How many people were working up here? Well, that varied depending on the order situation and, of course, the season. Even when the weather was bad in winter, the peak season was in summer. There could be up to 600 people up here. During the Second World War, the quarry continued to operate, but more on the back burner. Just 50 workers were employed here at the time.