The Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains between Germany and Czechia, gave silver to medieval Europe and gave mineralogy some of its founding language, the words “cobalt” and “nickel” come from the miners’ names for ores here, and the coins minted from Joachimsthal silver, the thaler, became the “dollar.” Freiberg’s mining academy is the oldest in the world (1765) and its mineral collection, the Terra Mineralia, is one of the finest anywhere. UNESCO World Heritage mining region.
Silver, fluorite, many species
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Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
