Hallein and the Dürrnberg can look back on thousands of years of settlement history. Salt has shaped life in the region and the town. Miners began extracting salt from the Dürrnberg as long as 2,600 years ago during the Iron Age. The exhibition tells the story of work in the mine, life in the settlements, and the burial traditions of the Celts.

Artistic jugs, filigree brooches (fibulae), and elaborate everyday items and textiles testify to the wealth of the Celts. Precious objects made of amber, gold, coral, or glass attest to far-reaching trade relations. Prehistoric mining ended in the first century BC, and it was not until the twelfth century that the archbishops rediscovered salt as a source of wealth.