Journey To Middle Earth At The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland.

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The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine is one of the most valuable monuments of material and spiritual culture in Poland. Each year it is visited by more than one million tourists from all over the world.

It is also a world class monument, featuring among twelve objects on the UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.

Today, the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine combines many centuries of tradition and modernity, the history of several hundred years and an underground metropolis with extensive infrastructure.

The mine is a product of work of tens of generations of miners, a monument to the history of Poland and to the Polish nation – a brand, present in Polish consciousness for centuries.

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The Wieliczka Salt Mine (Polish: Kopalnia soli Wieliczka), located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area. The mine, built in the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest salt mines still in operation. From its beginning and throughout its existence, the Royal mine was run by the Żupy krakowskie Salt Mines. Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding.

The mine's attractions include dozens of statues, three chapels and an entire cathedral that has been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. The oldest sculptures are augmented by the new carvings by contemporary artists. About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.

The Wieliczka salt mine reaches a depth of 327 metres (1,073 ft) and is over 300 kilometres (190 mi) long. The rock salt is naturally gray in various shades, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white or crystalline look that many visitors may expect. During World War II, the shafts were used by the occupying Germans as an ad-hoc facility for various war-related industries. The mine features an underground lake; and the new exhibits on the history of salt mining, as well as a 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) touring route (less than 2% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes historic statues and mythical figures carved out of rock salt in distant past. More recent sculptures have been fashioned by contemporary artists.

I heard about this from a friend of mine and thought I would share it with all of you.

This was build long ago, with precision detail, deep underground. And, it might not be a pyramid, but it's damn impressive.

To think that ll of this is made out of salt and even the majority of the chandelier is as well, is mind blowing.

Anyway, I thought I would share this with all of you, and hopefully you can make it by there one day and see this amazing work of art in person. And, conquer the 380 or so stairs to take you there.

Humans can create beauty too, and sometimes it is good to look at that side as well.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Unbelievable! This is just magnificent!

Rich in history and beauty! Thank you for sharing this with us!!!

Awesome!

Thank you for sharing this, I never would have known otherwise.

Fascinating. I love these things.
Reminds me slightly of the doco series underground cities I think it was. About the ancient ruins under some major cities, or old unused tunnels systems under them, which are so vast yet so unknown to most people.

Old Roman enclaves buried under London, complete with Roman architecture etc.

I wonder how much has been lost under the 'surface' world. We always look to explore the solar system and beyond, but we really have so much left here to rediscover.

Good thread!

reply to post by predator0187


Amazing! Makes me proud to be of Polish descent.

i think that is the salt mine they have had bicycle races in.
riders crash and get salt in their wounds - ouch!

Oh my word, how beautiful! My bucket list just had another destination added. Thanks for sharing this wonderful hidden gem, I had no idea it existed!

Thankyou!

S&F

That place is beautiful!

I love places like this that are built underground.

I can only imagine how long it took to build those sites and the work that went into it. It's true art!

I did a Polish exchange with a boy from krakow when I was 15 years old, and we went here when it my schools turn to visit Poland. Not many things blow your mind as a 15 year old but I have to say this place blew my mind!
I recently thought about this place as a 30 year old, I completely forgot what the place was called thanks for sharing mate brought back some memories

reply to post by OpenSky


Yah, me too! iwan2ski isn't because I really "want to ski", but actually a nickname of my last name: Iwanowski. I just never knew where my short (5'8") and stocky figure (200lbs) came from until now.... Polish dwarves working the salt mines!

Awesome, my nanny would be proud. Now it's back to the salt mines for me, now I know why I am so salty! It's my polish lineage!

Originally posted by predator0187

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I thought that Da vinci was a Freemason.

It seems that others were ,too.

It seems that there is a woman in this picture ,too.

reply to post by predator0187


i am sure i have seen the second and third photo scenes in a jacky chan film , maybe some one on here can confirm this . or not .

truely fantastic photos