The oldest coal mine in Romania, the one at Petrila, was opened in 1859, and ever since, the people of the Jiu Valley have lived by harsh rules imposed by the dangers of working in underground coal galleries. Achievements as well as disasters, protest movements alongside remarkable cultural accomplishments, are closely tied to the Jiu Valley, with many of them reflected in the exhibits of the Mining Museum.

For many people, the expressions 'Valley of Tears' or even 'Stalin's Heart' are synonymous with mining in the Jiu Valley. They are true symbols which, alongside nearly 1,600 other exhibits, can be found together with the stories of the area in this museum, unique in Romania.

The Mining Museum, located in downtown Petrosani, has been housed for nearly 60 years in a heritage building. Conceived as a multifunctional space, the museum leads visitors from the basement-turned-mine gallery, through the ground floor featuring exhibits and panels dedicated to the history of coal mining in the Jiu Valley, and finally to the attic, a venue reserved for the town's cultural events.

Our guide is museographer and journalist Marian Boboc, a history enthusiast and 'local patriot', as he describes himself.

He starts the tour in the basement, home to a replica of a mine gallery and a cage - the lift used by miners to descend underground.

'We also have a replica of a coal face, because a great many visitors have no idea how mining in the Jiu Valley used to be carried out. Local people, even if they never worked in the mines themselves, had a grandfather, a parent or a friend who did and, in time, formed an image of what mining was like. But people from outside the Valley do not know what it was like underground, and I can see how surprised they are when they come across these replicas,' says Marian Boboc.

In the semi-darkness, a huge shovel leans against a wall beside a mound of black coal. We learn that it was widely used by miners and was known as 'Stalin's Heart', having first been designed and used in the coal mines of the Donbas region before eventually making its way, in the fervour of those times, to the Jiu Valley.

'When the shovel was invented, they said it was supposed to hold 15 kilograms of rock or 20 kilograms of coal within its curve. There, at the coal face, we even have a 'Stalin's Heart' shovel and a pile of coal. Anyone with strong enough muscles can try the exercise with the shovel - something miners often had to do underground because they had no other choice,' guide Marian Boboc explains.

Not far from the coal face, a red plastic net hangs high on an iron pillar. We learn that miners used such nets to keep their food safe when underground, out of reach of rats. The miners did not harm the animals because, in the event of gas leaks, the rats would flee quickly, and those working underground had learned to rely on their reactions.

'The food parcel had to be protected from hungry rats. In some older images, rats were seen as the knights of Saint Barbara - the patron saint of miners. They were regarded as small protectors because they warned of disasters - collapses, gas leaks - and they were never killed in the mines. No miner would kill rats. But because miners had to protect their meals, they kept their food hanging up high,' says Marian Boboc.

But the net itself also has an interesting story, because inside it are three newspapers: a broadsheet edition of the local paper Steagul Rosu ('The Red Flag'), a smaller edition of the same publication and the Romanian Communist Party newspaper Scanteia.

'At first, miners wrapped their food ration in the large-format Steagul Rosu. Before 1989 it was a huge newspaper - I do not even know how people managed to read it. But it was good for wrapping food because it was big. At one point, for reasons we all remember - the years of austerity - the paper switched to a much smaller format, almost miserly. Then the miners joked that 'now they want us to shrink our food rations too, so they match the wrapping'. Of course, they found a solution and turned to Scanteia, which, as far as I know, kept the same format until 1989,' the guide explains.

Yet the Mining Museum is not only about the coal face, 'Stalin's Heart' or the miners' food parcels. The concept is far broader, bringing together original objects used in mining or connected to the industry. All nearly 1,600 exhibits come from donations by state institutions, private individuals, mining enterprises and the University of Petrosani.

Alongside the artefacts, the ground floor features 20 panels recounting stories from more than 150 years of mining in the Jiu Valley.

'It was extremely difficult for me to decide what mattered most for this museum. But I believe I chose the essential things. Our museum tells the story of mining disasters, mine explosions, social events - the 1929 strike, the crisis years between 1929 and 1933, when miners from the Jiu Valley left for France, as well as the anti-communist workers' revolt in Lupeni in 1977, to mention just a few,' Boboc says.

On a panel in the main hall appears the phrase 'Valley of Tears', whose story is linked to the greatest tragedy in the history of the Jiu Valley.

''Valley of Tears', this expression so often used today but detached from its original meaning, first appeared in the newspaper Graiul Muncitorimii in 1922, following the explosion of 27 April, when 82 miners died at the Aranca mine in Lupeni. It was the deadliest explosion in the history of the Jiu Valley and it left behind 67 widows and 94 orphans. Just think of how many tears were shed... The journalist writing for that paper - a weekly published by the Romanian National Trade Unions - felt the depth of that tragedy and called it the Valley of Tears,' our guide explains.

The museographer then points to another panel, dedicated to the history of Constantin Brancusi's Endless Column. The Central Workshops in Petrosani were the place where, under the supervision of an exceptional engineer, the masterpiece gradually took shape before being transported and assembled in Targu Jiu.

'It is, briefly, the story of the Column and of Petrosani's contribution to creating this masterpiece. I should mention that the information on this panel comes from Sorana Georgescu, the daughter of engineer Georgescu-Gorjan, who oversaw the construction of the Endless Column. Casting of the elements began in September 1937 and lasted around six weeks. On 14 September work started on the central steel pillar - the steel came from Resita. Then, between 16 September and 20 October, the cast-iron modules were poured, and in the second half of October the first transports left Petrosani for Targu Jiu. The transport was carried out by lorries belonging to local contractors who probably had business relations with the Petrosani Company. The pieces were definitely transported by truck and not, as legend has it, by ox cart,' Marian Boboc explains.

Every object in the Mining Museum has its own story, which he enthusiastically shares with visitors. Many of the anecdotes come from his own experiences while trying to acquire exhibits for the museum. If you ever visit, ask him, for example, how he managed to bring to Petrosani a lamp manufactured at the Central Workshops and once owned by Ioan Doma, the first archpriest of the Jiu Valley, known as the miners' spiritual guide. The answer is delightful and best heard on site.

The museum attic is also a must-see, having been transformed into a space hosting thematic exhibitions, dioramas, book launches, seminars and art shows.

Recently renovated, the Mining Museum now attracts several thousand visitors every year. They come from all across Romania and abroad. The visitors who travelled the farthest came all the way from South Korea.

'We have visitors from every county in Romania, many groups, people of all ages, schoolchildren, pensioners. Besides that, because we see ourselves as a living museum, we organise conferences, book launches and document exhibitions. In the end, we try to live up to the stature of the mining profession. Perhaps we do not always succeed, but we keep trying,' Marian Boboc adds. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Sorin Blada; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)