Tunnel workers continue to observe the tradition of miners.
St. Barbara is their patron saint. Together with an ‘earthly’ representative, a tunnel patron, a statue of St. Barbara is erected in a corner every time work on a new tunnel is officially started.
The mining tradition can also be found on the language of tunnel builders: the greeting Glück Auf! originally refers to the hope of miners that lodes or iron ore may be opened in the rock.
