Salgótarján

Salgótarján is a modern city, the capital city of Nógrad county, in the north of Hungary. The development of the town began in the mid 19th century, when a brown-coal mine was opened nearby. The ambitious project to create a modern city centre begun in the mid-sixties, having all the aspects of the architecture of that period: rows of modern blocks of flats, high buildings, open squares. The city was the first to receive the János Hild prize in 1968 for achievements in city architecture.
Personally, I don't like this architecture style, as it reminds me the communist architecture in my country.

"Socialist-realistic" statue in Salgótarján


Square








As Salgótarján is surrounded by hills, during the expansion of the town, a lot of hills were leveled and now half of the city is built on the hills, having hundreds of stairways. It is fun for the first time, but when you have to climb up and down several times a day... you get very fit at the end!

Stairways


The coal mines have been closed years ago, leaving the city with high unemployment rates. Today visitors can see the remains of the mining industry by visiting the Coal Mine Museum, which is located next to the main entrance of the mine. While you are going down to the mine, you can see the specific activities that miners used to do, while extracting the coal. There are live-size gyps figurines, presenting the miners in different working situations, and in the darkness of the mine, they look like real people. In some places the tunnels are so low, that you can hardly squeeze through. The guide, a former miner explains all the activities and shows everything around. Sometimes it was a bit scary, when he told about the danger the miners faced every day or when presented the ventilation system and turned on the pumps that were extremely noisy.

Down in the mine

Outside the mine it is a park with old machines, you can climb on them. Of course, I tried all!

Hey, stop the train!