Sokolov Regional Museum

The Sokolov Regional Museum provides extensive collection, documentation, research and cultural services and it manages three historical buildings with permanent museum exhibitions for the public.

Sokolov Chateau

The first written mention of Sokolov dates back to 1279. The original circular stronghold was progressively rebuilt as a Gothic-Renaissance redoubt with an almost square ground-plan and corner towers. In 1622 the castle was acquired by the Nostitz family, which held Sokolov until 1945. In 1663 the castle was reconstructed in Baroque style and in 1805 again in Classicist style. The museum focuses on mining and associated industries. The exhibition presents the countryside, general history and the history of ore and coal mining. You can also see minerals from the region, specimens of flora and fauna, the development of crafts from earliest times to the present day, porcelain, lace, musical instruments and the like. The museum also has extensive exhibition halls for short-term exhibitions.

Krásno Mining Museum

The museum extends throughout the complex of the historical Vilé m tin mine, where a headframe, a mineshaft building, a machine room, a workshop building, a gatehouse and a transformer station are still preserved. The former tin ore dressing works has an 1897 mining steam engine from the Marie mine in Královské Poříčí. A presentation is made of the history of ore and coal mining, the mineralogy and geology of the Slavkov Forest, the medieval Jeroným mine in Čistá, ore dressing machinery, the Bohemian Massif ore deposit and so forth. The Vilém mine machine-room houses an original 1942 Siemens electric mining machine and you can also visit an exhibition mining gallery, exhibits of mine transport, mine rescue work and one of the oldest mine transformer stations in the country. The complex also has exhibits of 900 mm gauge track transport used in surface works in the Sokolov basin and 600 mm gauge transport used in the underground Slavkov mining district.

Horní Slavkov Museum

The museum exhibits are located in a Renaissance burgher's house. The exhibition presents the chief historical milestones and fields of human activity which have had a significant influence on the history of the town, particularly tin, silver and uranium mining, with specimens of ore and mining tool relics from various stages of historical development. The most important craft production in the town was pewter and porcelain work. A sad chapter in the history of the town was the transition from a distinguished and architecturally imposing Renaissance mining town to the extensive devastation of its architectural heritage in the 1950s. The exhibition also includes a unique open-hearth kitchen (or "black kitchen") on the ground floor of a burgher's house and it has three exhibition halls for short-term exhibitions.