Situated in the town of the same name, the Wieliczka Salt Mine dates back to the 13th century and is one of the world’s oldest salt mines in operation. The mine produced table salt continuously until 2007.
A section of the mine, consisting of 22 chambers from 64m to 135m below the surface of the earth, is open to the public which has seen a surge of tourism to the town. We took a guided tour through the mine and we had a terrific day in the eerie underworld of one of Krakow’s largest manufacturers.
The mine, along with neighboring Bochnia Royal Mine, gained a spot on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List in 1978. The main tourist route of the mine has hosted over 40 million visitors from around the world, averaging around 1.2 million per year. The Tourist Route, now the mine’s main source of income along with weddings, concerts and other ceremonies.
The mine’s lowest depth reaches 327 meters and it is over 287 kilometres (178 miles) long. The initial 380 steps takes tourists down a staggering 54 floors to start of the Tourist Route. Initially, the circulating spiral of wooden stairs was overwhelming and felt like it was never going to end, then all of a sudden you are standing by the piles of strong wooden log foundations 64m below ground.
Our 3km on-foot exploration exposed many features throughout the mine, some created for the purpose of tourism among the vast amount of salt that covered the walls and ceiling everywhere.
The mine shafts throughout are reinforced by strong wooden logs, piled closely together to ensure the most solid foundation available at the time. Fire extinguishers are almost everywhere and there is a strict ban on smoking and open flames.
Layers upon layers of strong wooden logs are used to reinforce the vast of ground above.
Polish Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who was one of the first tourists to visit Wieliczka Mine and on the 500th anniversary of his birth, sculptor Władysław Hapek added a model of Copernicus to the chamber, also named after him.
The tourist route takes you on a journey through the lives of the miners and the guide talks thorough the tools and resources that were used.
The subterranean chambers are converted into galleries displaying sculptures and models depicting ways that reflect the miners’ social and religious traditions as well as tools and machinery that was used to produce the biggest export in the city.
For a sculpture, salt is easier to carve than marble and it gives a similar surface. This is a perfect environment for sculptures as it is very dry, once salt is exposed to water, it quickly erodes.
Our guide informed us that over twenty horses lived underground in the mine and were used for the transportation of heavy industrial materials and tonnes of salt.
We were told the last two horses left the mine only ten years ago. They were named Bishek and Smaug (that translates to Dragon in Polish).
A bust of Casimir III the Great, who reigned between 1333–1370 is celebrated as the last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty. He is a visible feature in the mine, and was also carved from the surrounding rock salt.
A lot of the miners were also talented artists and sculptors. They carved the caves with artistic representations of Poets, priests and Popes alongside mythical creatures such as dwarves and dragons and saints and wizards.
The carvings are mind-blowing and line the whole area of the Chapel of St. Kinga.
It is worth a few minutes of stopping by these carvings to appreciate the finer details.
The legend of Princess Kinga has long been associated with the mine. The Hungarian noblewoman was engaged to Bolesław V the Chaste, the Prince of Kraków at the age of sixteen. King Béla IV, her loving father asked Kinga what she would like as a wedding present. Kinga requested no gold and jewels, stating they only brought unhappiness and tears. She wanted something that could serve the people she was going to live with in her new country. She asked for a salt mine.
King Béla offered Kinga the Marmaros Salt Mine. On her way to Poland the princess visited the mine. She had gathered a group of mining experts as she kneeled to pray next to the entrance and to everybody’s surprise, she threw her engagement ring inside the mine.
When approaching Kraków with her entourage, Kinga stopped and asked the miners to look for salt. They started digging and suddenly hit a big lump of salt. The lump had Kinga’s engagement ring inside when it was broken open. Kinga is honored 101 meters underground via the world’s biggest underground chapel, the Chapel of Saint Kinga.
Every single element belonging to the Chapel is made of salt, from the chandeliers to altarpieces to the religious statues.
It took over 30 years to complete this underground temple making it the largest of its kind in the world. Over 20,000 tonnes of rock salt had to be removed.
In 1999 the Wieliczka miners commemorated the Polish Pope John Paul II with a salt sculpture visible as you exit the Chapel.
As we travelled in and out of slightly claustrophobic corridors the temperature changed constantly from being around 14 degrees centigrade to hot and stuffy. We saw illuminated wooden galleries and pools of salty water such as the Erazm Barącz Chamber which features a brine lake 9 metres deep.
The complex construction of the mine is evident throughout the tour, this huge timber in the Michalowice Chamber reinforces the walls around the mine. The chamber was worked between the late 17th century and mid-18th century in a vertical block of green salt. It wasn’t until the 20th century that an impressive wooden casing was constructed in the excavation.
The mine would often host noble visitors such as wealthy business owners and royalty. Part of the mine was used to host concerts, capitalizing on the cave like structure to produce a high quality of isolated sound. Chandeliers were placed in areas like this to decorate the mine giving it an exclusive reputation for its unique abilities.
Being so focused on the incredible features of the mine can often distract you from what’s above.
One thing we had to do was lick our finger and rub it on the wall then lick it again. Probably not very hygienic considering how many people might do the same but we had to remind ourselves what the walls around us were made from.
Luckily for visitors, exiting the mine doesn’t involve a hike back up the 380 steps where the tourist route starts, a 17th century mining elevator takes you right back up to the top in a staggering 30 seconds.
The elevator holds 36 persons (nine per car) and is named the ‘Danilowicz Shaft’. Be prepared for long queues as all tourists groups will be waiting in an orderly line monitored by patient staff.
This tour was combined with a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.
For more information on the Salt Mine or Poland itself, we recommend the following literature:
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