Black Times: The Decline Of Romania's Coal-Mining Region

Miners stand in a locker room before starting their shift at the Lonea coal mine.

The dilapidated Lonea coal mine in Petrila is one of four mines left in Romania's Jiu Valley.

Ferenc Balog, 44, finishes his shift at the Lonea coal mine.

Work clothes hang from the ceiling above a miner in the locker room. 

A miner picks up his meal at the Lonea mine.

Miners finish a shift at the Lonea mine. The region used to have 54,000 miners but today only 4,500 are employed to dig coal.

The Lonea mine in Petrila and other mines in the region were once propped up by former Romanian President Ion Iliescu.

A miner exits an elevator as he ends his shift.

Iliescu used thousands of coal miners from the Jiu Valley to violently break up anti-government demonstrations in 1990. He is facing trial for the death of several protesters.

Petrila is one of six coal-mining cities in the Jiu Valley.  According to the Romanian National Statistics Institute, the total population of the cities has dropped by more than 40 percent -- going from nearly 170,000 inhabitants in 1997 to less than 100,000 today.

The Petrila coal mine was closed in 2015.

The abandoned Petrila mine is now used to host art exhibitions.

Art instead of coal at the Petrila mine

Exhibitions in the Petrila mine

The coal-mining city of Lupeni in the Jiu Valley.