Banská Štiavnica water management system – an important UNESCO technical monument
From the 16th to the 19th century, a unique water management system was created in Banská Štiavnica and its vicinity, which served the local mines. The water management system consisted of water channels – collecting ditches, which concentrated surface water from Štiavnické vrchy (Štiavnica mountains) and brought it to the mining water reservoirs (tajchy). Tajchy are water reservoirs that were built to accumulate surface water from the collecting ditches. Water from the tajchy was discharged into water canals – transporting ditches that brought water to the shafts. Here, the water was piped into the depths of the mine, where the obtained water energy powered pumping machines that pumped groundwater out of the flooded mines. Once the groundwater was drained, the miners could continue extracting gold and silver. Water-powered processing facilities also operated in Banská Štiavnica and its vicinity, which processed the extracted
ore from the mines. For centuries, the Banská Štiavnica water management system set in motion more than a hundred water-powered devices. The system consisted of about 60 tajchy, 170 km of ditches, and 15 water tunnels.
