Last week-end, we visited a salt mine near to Cracow (Poland). The mine is located under the city of Wieliczka, in the south of the country. The mine contains 300km of underground galleries on 9 floors. The guide that we followed told us that he received a formation for 9 months, during which he had to go underground 3 times per week. It’s good because it’s easy to be lost in this huge labyrinthe ! And at 130m under the ground, it is a bit creepy…
The mine is the oldest in Europe (which is still operated) and it belongs to UNESCO heritage since 1978. This is not surprising because it is an amazing place, with a lot of architectures inside. First of all, the wooden walls have been painted in white in order to reflect miners’ lamps to obtain more light. This create a particular atmosphere deepened by a strong underground air current that you can feel sometimes. There are also natural lakes, a church and even a convention centre which can contain 1,000 people. Shows and sport competitions are sometimes organised in this place, and the guide told us that you can get married underground and also have parties !
There are many legends about the mine. For example, the story of the Hungarian princess Kinga who lost a ring offered as a gift by the Polish prince Boleslas. Another one says that elves secretly come to help miners and protect them from floods and rockslides. That’s why there are many elves carved in the salt inside the mine. But it has to be only a legend, because the guide told us that miners once tried to move by boat on underground rivers ; but the water was very salty, and so very dense. So the boat was not submerged. It capsized, and every miner which was in the boat died… Since this sad event, they stopped to think about carrying the salt by underground boat.
We learned the origin of this salt mine : there used to be a sea in the region of Wieliczka, but it evaporated and the salt stayed on the ground and went also undergound. So now everything is salty inside, you can lick the walls (if you’re a weird person) and you’ll feel a very salty taste. We drank water from an underground source and it was also very salty. Miners have to bring their own water if they want to take a break during work and drink, because the underground rivers are not so refreshing…
Benoit JAMET-FOURNIER
Erasmus in Slovakia 