After a year and a half of intensive renovation, the former coal mine at Raša in eastern Istria has been reopened, repurposed as a tourist attraction. The local municipality has invested €870,000 into this authentic mining museum, 1.5 kilometres of accessible tunnel that welcomed its first visitors this July.
Along with the museum, a miner’s lodging was also built, an authentic evocation of the miner’s everyday life, both inside and outside the mine.
The Kova Experience tour lasts 2.5 hours and shows every aspect of the miner’s hard and dangerous work. Currently tours are only given in Croatian, with English-friendly ones available through Arsiana (Croatian-only) or email info@arsiana.hr.
This tourist project, in addition to reviving the history and industrial heritage of Raša, highlights the importance of mining activity in the area, which dates back to the Venetians. After World War I, and Italy taking power in Istria, in 1935 Mussolini approved a loan of five million lire to construct the Raša settlement from scratch. The entire town was built in just 547 days and is an architectural and industrial curiosity in its own right. From 1928 to 1966, more than 10,000 miners worked here.
Paula Bosančić