300 Years Since the Construction of the First Atmospheric Steam Engine

A technical drawing of the machine based on plans by the English engineer Isaac Potter. The pronounced linear style of the illustration is clear enough to trace the mechanism's operation from top to bottom across the full depth of the mine shaft. On the right, the issuing state 'SLOVENSKO' and the years '1722 • 2021'. Along the left edge, the mint mark of the Kremnica Mint and the initials of designer Peter Valach.

Draining mines was one of the biggest technical problems in European mining up to the 18th century. Shafts that reached deep enough into ore-rich strata would inevitably fill with water and had to be kept dry through laborious human or animal effort. This changed when the English engineer Isaac Potter brought the atmospheric steam engine — originally developed by Thomas Newcomen — to the then Kingdom of Hungary, which included the mining regions of present-day Slovakia, in the early 18th century. The first such machine for pumping water out of mines went into operation in 1722 in the mining district of Banská Štiavnica, one of the most important centres of silver and gold mining in Central Europe. This meant that steam technology arrived in Central European mining earlier than in many other parts of the continent.

Banská Štiavnica — today recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — was a technical centre of European standing in the 18th century. The miners and engineers there not only further developed pumping systems, but also created early forms of mechanised mine operation that set standards far beyond the region. The town's Mining Academy, founded in 1762, is considered one of the first technical colleges in the world. Against this backdrop, Slovakia's 2-euro commemorative coin from 2022 recalls the 300th anniversary of the commissioning of this first steam pump — a moment that marked the beginning of a mechanised era of mining in the region and still shapes the country's technical heritage today.