Exploring Wieliczka - Krakow's Medieval Royal Salt Mine

The Wieliczka Salt Mine was established on the outskirts of Krakow Poland in the 13th century as a royal salt mine.  For centuries it was one of the world's biggest and most profitable industrial establishments when common salt was commercially a medieval equivalent of today's oil.

Nine centuries of mining in the Wieliczka mine produced a total depth of approximately 327 meters (1,073 ft) and over 287 kilometers (178 mi) of passages as well as 2,040 caverns of various sizes. Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding, but the mine continued to produce table salt until 2007. 

Millions of visitors, including the crowned heads of state, notables including Copernicus, Chopin, Goethe and Sarah Bernhardt and even a Pope (John Paul II) among them, have explored the subterranean world of labyrinthine passages, giant caverns, underground lakes and chapels with sculptures in the crystalline salt and rich ornamentation carved in the salt rock. In 1978 the mine was placed on the original UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.  

To visit the mine, you must join a guided group-tour.  We were each provided with receiver and earbuds so we could hear our guide even when exploring a few feet away from her.  She was very informative and knowledgeable which definitely added to our enjoyment of the experience.

The tourist route starts 64 m deep, includes twenty chambers, and ends 135 m below the earth surface, where the world's biggest museum of mining is located with the unique centuries-old equipment among its exhibits.

The experience begins with a walk straight down several flights of wooden stairs giving you a real sense of descending into the mine.  As you tour, plaques indicate the date that each level was excavated starting with the oldest excavations nearer the surface and progressing to later dates as you go deeper underground.

The rock salt is naturally various shades of grey, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white or crystalline look that many visitors may expect. Cauliflower-looking white-salt eruptions cover ceilings and walls and stalactites formed by salt-water hang from the ceilings.

Grottoes filled with cave-lakes reflecting the continual flooding the miners had to deal with.

Vignettes populate the caverns to help people understand what the 17th and 18th century mining experience would have entailed, including a huge Hungarian horse-treadmill, horse-drawn ore-carts and torch-lit mining.

Precarious carved steps, ladders and an amazingly tall wooden staircase which fills one huge cavern reminded us that before the advent of mine-lifts, men would have trudged up and down these intricate stairways and slippery salt slopes.  

There are also clever vignettes of tiny “Gnome Miners” adding a bit of fantasy to the experience!

Salt-sculptures along the passages and inside the cavern rooms are beautifully carved and bring to mind scenes of workers showing their artistic side during the long tedious days underground.  There are also a number of small chapels and nitches filled with religious figures.

Below is a sculptural vignette that portrays the legend attached to the mine: 

"Princess Kinga, a Hungarian noblewoman was about to be married to Bolesław V the Chaste, the Prince of Kraków. As part of her dowry, she asked her father for a lump of salt, since salt was prizeworthy in Poland.

Her father King Béla took her to a salt mine in Máramaros. She threw her engagement ring from Bolesław in one of the shafts before leaving for Poland. On arriving in Kraków, she asked the miners to dig a deep pit until they come upon a rock.

The people found a lump of salt in there and when they split it in two, discovered the princess's ring. Kinga thus became the patron saint of salt miners in and around the Polish capital."

The Wieliczka mine is often referred to as "the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland." Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance.  The huge cathedral cavern walls are carved with beautiful religious statuary and reliefs including an amazing reproduction of the “Last Supper”.

Even the floors are carved salt simulating floor tiles.

The interiors of the large mine caverns and “cathedral” have marvelous acoustics and are often used for musical performances.

Deep underground, you can take a break in the gift-shop and café caverns.  You can buy table salt mined from Wieliczka from the gift-shop. There are also halls available for special events including a bar area. 

Just a note: Leaving the mine can be very confusing!  The signs were not clear, so we lined up behind the “individual tourist” sign hoping it was the right one.  After a group had gathered, someone lead us off onto a long……long….. underground walk, with further commentary and a quick stop at another chapel, which we began to think was another tour so we began to panic.  We had a ride to catch! Fortunately, just as we were about to bolt from the group to find our way alone back to the sign, we came to the “real” exit.  So be aware, the exit is EXTREMELY long walk and we promise you aren’t starting a new tour!

A visit to the historic royal Wieliczka Salt Mine is a fun and educational experience and anyone visiting Krakow, Poland should plan to visit this amazing place!

Click here to learn more about visiting the Wieliczka Salt Mine!