Royal Gran Paradiso Mining Museum - Visitor Center of the Gran Paradiso National Park

The Gran Paradiso National Park is a protected area established by the State in order to preserve the ecosystems of international and national importance of the valleys around the Gran Paradiso massif for present and future generations.

The aims of the Organization and the Museum are therefore the management and protection of the protected area, the maintenance of the biodiversity of this territory and its landscape, scientific research, environmental education, the development and promotion of sustainable tourism. 

The history of the magnetite mines of Liconi, Colonna and Costa del Pino, located on the slopes of Monte Creya, probably begins as early as the times of the Salassi and the Romans and lasts until 1979, when they were officially closed.
The mines of Cogne represent a beautiful testimony of what has been for several years one of the major sources of income for the inhabitants.

Still visible today are the remains of the cableways for transporting the material, the cable car for passengers from Cogne to Colonna and numerous buildings; the miners could in fact use the shop, the library and even a cinema.

In the ancient Miners' Village, a few kilometers from the town, today the Fondation Grand Paradis is located, which houses the visitor center of the Gran Paradiso National Park and the Alpinart exhibition center, where a temporary exhibition on the mine is currently set up, which represents the history of Cogne.

 

Map: Royal Gran Paradiso Mining Museum - Visitor Center of the Gran Paradiso National Park