The growing number of employees at Idrija’s Mercury Mine during the second half of the nineteenth century aggravated the workers’ housing problem in the city. Private flats in the local miners’ homes often provided conditions of overcrowding and unsuitable sanitary facilities. The poor living conditions were also a result of frequent resettlements of miners’ families, until the mine management finally decided to build blocks of flats for the workers. The so-called prhavzi, which the mine constructed between 1872 and 1932, provided a partial solution to the pressing housing problem. Well-built blocks of flats provided sizable miners’ families with better living conditions as well as improved fire safety. The interior furnishings in miners’ homes did not differ significantly from those in private ones. The workers housed in prhavz were at an advantage also because, unlike the residents of private miners’ homes, they had no other obligations than paying the rent. To this day, prhavzi have remained a living part of the mining heritage of Idrija, which also earned its recognition on a global level.