Technical Marvel
Back in the twilight of the last century, the Idrija Mercury Mine unveiled a true marvel – three colossal rotary kilns for smelting cinnabar ore.
The rotary furnace was part of the Idrija Mercury Mine smelting plant, which further encompassed the cableway end-station and the ore separation plant. Constructed in the 1960s, the furnace used to be the largest of its kind to smelt cinnabar ore in the world. Three rotary furnaces with the capacity of 250 tonnes of ore per day were in operation until 1995. As part of the mercury heritage of Idrija and Almadén, it is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.