Wieliczka salt mine

by ElHefe

Wieliczka salt mine is on Unesco’s world cultural and Natural heritage list


Table salt was formerly produced there from the upwelling brine – and had been since Neolithic times. The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines.



Commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996 owing to falling salt prices and mine flooding. Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic monument.



Wieliczka reaches a depth of 327 meters and extends via horizontal passages and chambers for over 287 kilometers. The rock salt is naturally of varying shades of grey, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white crystalline substance that might be expected.



Visitors’ 3.5-kilometer (less than 2% of the mine passages’ total length) route features an underground lake, exhibits on the history of salt mining and statues carved from the rock salt at various times.




Leave a Comment