Limestone mine

Last Monday we visited the limestone mine located in Lohja, named Tytyri. The mine, which has been actively used for over a century, is now 364 meters deep underground. The museum is only 100 meters deep, however, but it showcases the evolution of the exploitation of the mine throughout the last century in a very visual fashion.

In order to get to the museum, we took a van, which took us down a road leading to the entrance of the mine/museum itself. The first things we saw and were told about were the different tools that had been used to extract the limestone: first, the scratchers, which got bigger and more powerful as years went by, along with their respective contraptions to move and operate them as needed. After that, we got to the heavy machinery, such as trucks, which had to be brought one piece at a time way back when they started being used because the road which we took to get to the museum had not been built until later on.

Next up, we watched a video showcasing a regular workday in the mine, which looked really tiring. We were also told about the working conditions, especially the fact that the air is full of dust, and how in the old days they could identify the mine workers by their white hands, moustache (in order to filter the dust) and lack of hearing (because they did not use earphones back then). They also mentioned that, ironically, in order to improve their breathing problems, doctors used to tell miners to start smoking because "it would make them cough, therefore cleaning the lungs". Obviously, that was not a good piece of advice, and was later scrapped.

After a few other facts and trivia about the mines, including a glimpse at the incredibly steep staircase that is only to be used for emergencies (it goes all the way down to the deepest part of the mine, and it is so steep it is almost a vertical drop. I would not want to go down that), we were taken to watch a show of lights and music for a few minutes in one of the huge (100 cubic meters) cavities in the mine before heading to the hall which can be rented for parties and weddings and whatnot (can you imagine that? Celebrating your birthday 100 meters deep underground?). Finally, in order to leave, we were given two options: we could either just take the van back to the surface, or go to the old mine shaft, where there were some tracks for an old mine cart which used to carry the workers down to the mine, and from there climb around 500 steps up to the surface. A few of us (me included) decided to take this last route, which was pretty exhausting.

Asier Suarez