Wieliczka Salt Mine Poland

Experiencing Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine is an adventure! The mine, a UNESCO World Cultural & Natural Heritage Site, is located in the town of Wieliczka, a 30-minute drive from Kraków. The three-hour tour began with a descent deep into the mine shaft via a series of steep wooden stairways. At the end of the tour, a cage elevator returned us to the surface.

History

Surrounded by ceilings, floors, and walls of solid, marble-like salt, we moved along narrow corridors inside the mine. We stopped at a series of “chambers” hollowed out in the rock salt, where our guide provided commentary, educating us on the mine’s history.

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“The Wieliczka Salt Mine has been worked since the 13th century and constitutes one of the earliest and most important European industrial operations.”

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Salt-making in Wieliczka “dates back to the Neolithic Period,” the last stage of the Stone Age. Rock salt was discovered in the second half of the 13th century, with “large-scale production beginning in the 1280s”.

Legend of St. Kinga

One of many salt mine legends, the legend of St. Kinga, “assigns the discovery of salt in Wieliczka to the wife of Prince of Kraków, Boleslaw V  the Chaste (1243-1279)“. The Hungarian princess “received a salt mine as a dowry,” and is said to have dropped her engagement ring into a salt pit. She asked miners to dig a shaft, where they “retrieved her ring in the first lump of salt mined”. The history of the salt mine from prehistoric to present time is detailed on the Wieliczka website.

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“Horses appeared in the Wieliczka and Bochnia Salt Mines at the beginning of the 16th century. They worked in horizontal transport, pulling trolleys with salt, and vertical transport by powering treadmills. Over time, there were over 100 horses in the Wieliczka Mine.” UNESCO 

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Visitors

People have toured the salt mine for hundreds of years. With millions visiting, tourism revenues are off the charts, and the mine is known as Poland’s “white gold“. One chamber was named after the first visitor – Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus – who toured the mine in 1493. Notable visitors include Tsar Alexander I, Emperors Franz I and Franz Joseph, J. W. Goethe, Artist Jan Matejko, Dmitry Mendeleev, Frédéric Chopin, Pope John Paul II, and others. During WWII, the Nazis established a military aircraft factory inside the mine to manufacture Heinkel HE 162s.

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“The Wieliczka Salt Mine is an extraordinary place – hidden from the world, full of secrets and legends.” wieliczka-saltmine.com

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Routes

When touring the mine, you can choose between – the Tourist or Miners’ route. We took the easier Tourist Route.

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“Over more than 700 years, 26 shafts were struck in Wieliczka and 9 million m³ of post-excavation voids were drilled.”

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Subterranean Chambers

The mine’s galleries and subterranean chambers are one of Poland’s most visited tourist sites. They’re “arranged and decorated to reflect the miners’ social and religious traditions“. Tools and machinery on display “provide testimony about the socio-technical system involved in underground rock salt mining.”

I especially enjoyed the Erazma Baracza Lake Chamber and spectacular St. Kinga’s Chapel – world’s biggest underground church 101 meters (331 feet) below ground.

Saint Kinga is patroness of the mine, The chandeliers, art, sculptings, and religious wall reliefs are all made of salt carved by Antoni Wdrodek and Józef and Tomasz Markowski. The chapel is available for weddings, and some chambers are used for concerts and events.

Visitors can spend the night at Hotel Grand Sal or stay at the Wieliczka’ Salt Mine Health Resort located 135 metres (331 feet) underground. The salt mine microclimate is beneficial to asthma, allergies, and upper and lower respiratory tract health issues.

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“The altar was made by Józef Markowski, and it is definitely the most important element of St. Kinga’s Chapel.”

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It was a fascinating day!