Koncker in Banská Štiavnica was once a miner's alarm clock, a dungeon and an insurance company. Today there is an excellent tea room in the Koncker building.
The two-storey tower-like Renaissance-Baroque building from 1681 has a shingle roof topped by a small turret with sound holes. From the Koncker tower, calls were made to the mine by knocking on a wooden board, and the morning shift started at half past three in the morning. Knocking was also heard on festive occasions, mining meetings, funerals, and fires. Two rooms to the right of the entrance portal on the ground floor of the building served as a prison for miners convicted by the Mining Court in the 18th and 19th centuries. Knocker was also home of the fraternity treasury, a kind of mining insurance company, in which miners deposited part of their earnings to support the sick, widows, and orphans. The last modification of the building took place in the 19th century, when a lateral ground-floor extension was completed. Since 2000, there has been a tea house in the Knocker building.
