GOLD
PROSPECTING
AND
BESSA
MUSEUM
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The
museum bears witness to two thousand years of uninterrupted gold
prospecting in the Biella area and in the north of Italy.
A
visit is
followed by a walk through the Roman goldfields and a practice-session on
the river; all in the company of our experts.
In
the ground-floor hall there is a presentation of the geological formation
of the Bessa and of gold, clarifying the difference between native gold,
tridimensional in shape and alloyed with quartz, and alluvial gold in the
form of chips.
You
can also see
the original techniques and instruments for gold prospecting,
subdivided according to the area which they belong to: the cupun
of the Elvo, the gave of the Orco, the trulle of
the Ticino, the banconi of the
Adda, pans and sluices of various shapes.
On
the upper floor, in the historical section, the finds, the techniques for
extraction and the principal archaeological sites of the Bessa are
illustrated.
The
journey continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with the
presentation of diplomas of various emperors who granted concessions for
the working of the rivers to bishops and local nobility. Following this
there are models and illustrations on prospecting in the XVII and XVIII
centuries along with company shares, historical photographs and geological
surveys of the XIX and XX centuries.
In
the basement, the last section includes
hundreds of specimens of gold extracted from the rivers of the
Padana plain, as well as information relative to the native goldmines of
Monte Rosa, the grinding and amalgamating of extracted material and to the
creation of wooden implements
for use in prospecting on the river.
The
idea of the Museum was then developed from 1998 on, thanks to the links
with the Elvo Valley and Serra Eco-Museum Association, which is a part of
the Biella Eco-Museum, in its own turn a part of the Piemonte Eco-Museum
system.
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