Poland. Europe’s Oldest Salt Mine
Ever heard the expression, “back to the salt mines”? The saying came to mind a few years ago when I visited a salt mine in southern Poland. Located thirteen miles southeast of Kraków, the Wieliczka Salt Mine is part of an underground complex of passageways and chambers arranged vertically on nine levels. The chambers contain functional spaces once used to serve miners such as chapels as well as more recently created interpretive displays for tourists. There are also underground lakes and statues carved from solid blocks of salt. More recently, visitor amenities have been added including a restaurant, spa, and hotel. Wieliczka is Europe’s oldest salt mine. The source of grey chucks of salt is an ancient sea that once extended from modern-day Romania to the Polish province of Silesia. Subsequently, the climate cooled and the ocean level dropped. About thirteen million years ago the climate became drier as the lakes evaporated, leaving behind huge deposits of salt.
The mine began operations in the thirteenth century under a company called Żupy Krakowskie (Kraków Salt Mines) with work briefly halted during the Mongol’s invasion of Poland (1240-1241). In 1368, Polish King Casimir III issued a decree stipulating how the mine would be organized, and the way workers would be categorized and paid. By the late Middle Ages, salt extracted from Wieliczka and other mines was responsible for 20% of Poland’s economy.
Salt was removed in large blocks called “loaves” that each weighed 1,100 to 2,000 kilograms. Subsequently, the loaves were moved in barrels carried by workers or pushed in carts. Rather than being white, the grey salt extracted from the mine resembles granite. Horses replaced treadmills for powering extraction equipment during the sixteenth century. Once lowered into the mine, the horses spent the rest of their lives underground. As salt deposits at upper levels were depleted, shafts were extended to lower depths with up to 30,000 metric tons of salt being removed from the mine each year.
In 1918, the mine fell under the Austrian Hapsburgs who introduced new extraction tools such as drills, explosives, steam powered extraction machines, and rail transportation. During World War II the Nazis began preparations for using the mine as an armament factory to be manned by Jewish forced labor. However, the site was overrun by the advancing Soviet Army before production could get underway. After the war, the mine was electrified and expanded. Reaching a depth of 327 meters, the underground complex has more than 287 kilometers of passageways and chambers. The mine finally closed in 1996 after more than 750 years of operation.
Today, Wieliczka Salt Mine is a Polish historical monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1978), and among the most popular tourist sites in southern Poland, attracting more than a million visitors every year. Focused on the upper and oldest levels, the tour route is 3.5 kilometers long, roughly two percent of the mine’s total length. We descended 378 steps to a depth of sixty-four meters. At that depth, the temperature inside the mine is a comfortable 17 to 18°C. One of the first things you notice is salt that seems to coat or cling to everything. Salt is a natural agent for drying that discourages bacterial growth. Therefore, the mine’s microclimate is considered therapeutic for people with asthma, bronchitis, allergies, or other ailments.
Although early mine builders were reluctant to use wood out of concern over fire, we discovered passageways reinforced with wood beams and scaffolding. One of the chapels we visited was St. Kinga, considered the only underground church in Europe. Named after a princess, the chapel features a version of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” carved out of a solid wall of salt. Elsewhere are smaller chapels decorated with bas reliefs of religious events. The tour also included chambers with mining equipment used at various times in the mine’s history. Along with displays that interpret the mine’s economic contributions and history are more recently added visitor amenities. Patrons of Karczma Górnicza, the mine’s underground restaurant, can order Polish beer and sour soup with egg and sausage. There is also hunter’s stew and dumplings with cottage cheese and potatoes. Visitors can also book a room in the subterrain hotel called the Eastern Mountain Stables Chamber. It took an hour and a half to complete the entire tour route. Reaching the Danilowicz Shaft where we boarded a cramped lift back to the surface.
