The statement that mining was central to life in medieval Kutná Hora would not be an exaggeration. Its very name in German, Kuttenberg, comes from the Middle High German word “Kütte” which means pit, shaft, or ditch. Deposits of silver ore began to be mined systematically in the second half of the thirteenth century, though there are indications of mining activity in the area before then. The town grew out of provisional dwellings around wooden churches which were erected at places where mining activity was the most intensive. Under the reign of Wenceslas II (1283-1305), Kutná Hora was transformed into a prosperous town of feverish industrial activity. The establishment of the royal mint and the consolidation of administration of the mines resulted in the town’s steep rise in prosperity around the year 1300. As the royal mining town, Kutná Hora was the second most important city in Bohemia after Prague. The city resisted sieges by Albrecht of Habsburg in 1304 and 1307. In between these two events, its fortifications were reinforced, and they were finally completed in the middle of the fourteenth century.

The depiction of mining activity from the Kutná Hora Hymn-book, on display at the mining museum and at the National Museum in Budapest, is a most intriguing and interesting medieval illumination. The tumult of life on the surface surrounding the mining activity stands in sharp contrast with the dark blue rock below in which miners are pictured in black cubby-holes, digging out precious metal from the rock.

 

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