The Open-air mining museum is located in a picturesque valley under the Klinger water reservoir on the outskirts of the town of Banská Štiavnica. For more than 45 years, it has provided visitors with a unique experience of touring the original mine premises. As the oldest and thematically most extensive mining exhibition in Slovakia, it shows the development of ore mining in the Central European area from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century.

Underground tours are also part of Open - air mining museum. The underground exhibition is located in the original mining works on the horizon of the Bartolomej adit and the Ondrej shaft. It offers an unforgettable experience when visiting the mine, where exhibits of mining technology are located, from the oldest hand tools used to the technology of the 20th century. Before preaching, visitors receive a cloak, a helmet and a lamp and take a more than 1 km long tour with a guide. The Ondrej shaft is located in a valley stretching from the tobacco factory to the Klinger water reservoir. It is located at 656 m.a.s.l., and was 433 m deep. They excavated it in a rectangular profile with wood reinforcement. It is accessible from the surface to a depth of 45 m to the level of the Ján horizon. In 1979, a draw tower from the Rúfus mine in Poproč was placed above the shaft. They used various devices in the shaft: a horse-drawn gable, and later a water wheel. In 1908, they built an electric traction machine on the shaft. In 1924, it was decided to liquidate it. East of the Ondrej shaft is the mouth of the Bartolomej adit, which was created for the purpose of exploring and mining the Špitaler vein. Today, the adit is the main transport, ventilation and drainage mine part of the underground open-air museum. The tour route includes long and spacious mining works from the 17th - 19th centuries. The most valuable exhibit of the Open – air mining museum is the underground horse-drawn drawbar from the second half of the 19th century, the only preserved underground device of its kind in Slovakia. Northeast of the mouth of the Bartolomej adit lies the mouth of another horizontal mine, the so-called locomotive draws.

The surface exhibition is clearly dominated by Kachelman's water column traction machine, relocated from the Lill shaft in Hodruša. It is a monument to the glorious era of water column machines, which in the 18th century saved Banská Štiavnica mining from extinction and stood at the forefront of technical progress on a global scale.