The Miners' Church

Besides the open air museum, which by this point we had given up on, the one thing I really wanted to see was this little octagonal church. We waited outside, as you could only go in on a tour. The pastor, who didn't look old enough to have gone to university then seminary, let the group of us in and we all took seats in the nave. He played the organ, then came down and gave a talk about the construction and history of the church. I think I understood about twenty percent of it, but only because I was already aware of the context.

Then, he went back up to the mezzanine and played some more. After that, we were ushered out the back door, to make way for the next group. It's a pretty church: not ornate like so many others we've seen. Small, as befits the size of the village. But it's become something of a symbol of the town and the region as a whole, a graceful survivor of better days, with an eye on the future and plans to get there.Read more