The Mining Museum in Rožňava was founded in 1902 on the initiative of the Boršod-Gemer section of the Hungarian Regional Mining and Metallurgy Society, with support from the town of Rožňava and financial donations from Count Dionýz Andrássy and his wife Františka. The conceptual inspiration came from the author of a monograph on the Gemer mining industry, the then Director of the Železník mines, Gustáv Eisele.
The Museum´s purpose-built premises were erected in 1905 based on plans prepared by Alexander Müller, Director of the Rožňava mines. The very first exhibition presenting mining and metallurgical themes and a wide range of mineralogical collections was opened to the public in 1912.
In the same year the Municipal Museum in Rožňava was also opened. Its creation was promoted by the local intelligentsia led by the Chairman of the Rožňava Debating Society Ladislav Réza and the schoolmasters of the grammar school, the most enthusiastic of whom was the well-known historian Dr. Rudolf Hazslinszky, who became the first Director of this museum.
While the Municipal Museum remained remarkably active during the inter-war period, thanks to the then Director, the widely-erudite Koloman Tichy, the Mining and Metallurgy museum produced hardly an activity, mainly because its premises were occupied by the army, the police, the apprentice school and the library. The two institutions were in fact merged in 1940. The first permanent exhibition was opened in 1943, divided into two parts: mining, metallurgy and mineralogy in one and general history in the other. Although this exhibition was only open for twelve months, Director Tichy brought progressive working methods to bear on it. He involved a wide range of active volunteers in the museum work, he had his insights published in specialist journals, as well as the results of processing of archive and museum materials, and he prepared a series of radio programs for broadcasting.
The fate of the Museum was seriously threatened during the Second World War. A large parts of collection stock was stolen, and the buildings served various purposes until 1956, none of them museum-like. In that year, however, political and state authorities intervened through the Czechoslovak Museum Association to revert the premises to their original mission. The first post-war exhibition, focusing on the history of mining and metallurgy in the Gemer region, was opened in May 1956.
The Museum experienced its greatest expansion in terms of material and staff between the years 1974 – 1985. More buildings were added, qualified specialists came to work here, the number of collections and exhibitions grew, and short-term exhibitions in particular were regularly organized. Since 1989 these have been installed intentionally in the newly-built Mining Museum Gallery in Rožňava. In 1981 an Exposition of Nature of Slovak Karst and Surrouding Areas was opened and in 1982, on the initiative of the Museum staff, a Miner´s Workplace Exposition was set up in the cellar spaces. In 1990 conditions became favorable for establishing a permanent exhibition of artworks in the Andrássy family picture gallery at Krásnohorské Podhradie. In May 1995 the newly-reconstructed Exhibition of Mining and Metallurgy in Gemer was opened, and the Museum´s latest, sixth permanent exhibition, the Historical Exposition of Museum - Presentation Collections, was set up in 1999 in response to the necessity of protecting as well as presenting so many of the precious objects from the Museum´s stock.
The crucial years in the history of the museum:
1902 - the Mining Museum in Rožňava was founded
1912 - the very first exhibition of the Mining Museum was opened
1912 - the Municipal Museum in Rožňava was opened
1931 - a restoration of the Municipal Museum activity after the First World War
1938 - the Municipal Museum and the Mining and Metallurgy Museum were merged
1943 - August 1st - its first permanent exhibition was opened
1943 - November 1st - the Municipal Museum and the Mining and Metallurgy Museum were closed
1956 - the first post-war exhibition was opened – The District Museum in Rožňava
