Wieliczka Salt Mine hits tourist record

[Jaga]

Wieliczka Salt Mine is really amazing. This is one of the most treasured tourist attraction in Poland. How many of you have ever been there? If you ever go there, you'd not forget this experience:

The historic salt mine in Wieliczka near Kraków last year registered a record number of visitors.

www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/123933,Wieliczka-Salt-Mine-hits-tourist-record

One million and 117 thousand tourists toured the site, five per cent more than in 2011.

Foreign tourists accounted for 53 per cent of visitors.

The British top the list (60. 9 thousand, 12 per cent more than in 2011), followed by Italians (42.4 thousand, an increase of 17 per cent) and Germans (38.5 thousand, an increase of 4 per cent). French, Korean, Russian, Norwegian, Spanish, American and Hungarian visitors were the remaining nations in the top ten.

Director of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, Kajetan d'Obyrn, has told the Polish Press Agency that with an annual number of visitors exceeding one million and almost 36 million visitors since the end of World War Two, Wieliczka is by far the most popular sightseeing attraction of its kind in the world.

Last year’s visitors also included almost 1,000 journalists and reporters from many countries. The mine served as location for a Bollywood production, Discovery Channel produced a programme on underground chapels and Canadian TV made a report in its series on the most bizarre restaurants.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine was founded in the middle of the 13th century. It features a 3.5-km touring route for visitors that includes historic statues and mythical figures. There are also a large chapel, an underground lake, as well as a private rehabilitation and wellness complex.

In 1978 the Wieliczka Mine was included in the original UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

[Jaga]

We have several photos and info in our website:

www.polishsite.us/index.php/travel/southern-poland/196-visit-to-wieliczka-salt-mine-part-i.html

www.polishsite.us/index.php/travel/southern-poland/197-visit-to-wieliczka-salt-mine-part-ii.html

www.polishsite.us/index.php/customs-and-religion/saints-and-patrons/178-st-kinga-patron-of-salt-miners.html

[Jaga]

Kai,

when you would go to Krakow, you need to see Wieliczka which is nearby

Karl, have you been there?

what about John, Pieter etc?

[Eric]

My great-grandmother visited there in the late 1970s.

[karl]

Jan 14, 2013 19:09:01 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Kai,

when you would go to Krakow, you need to see Wieliczka which is nearby

Karl, have you been there?

what about John, Pieter etc?

Jaga, I am sorry, I have never the pleasure to have been there. Only of an excursions some years back was I to visit Poland and it was on the very Western portion for a day trip. At that time, it was on a BMW motorcycle combination {Motorrad mit Beiwagen}.

The few polish people I were to meet then were very nice and simply noted the motorcycle and number plate of origen.

Karl

[kaima]

Jan 14, 2013 19:09:01 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Kai,

when you would go to Krakow, you need to see Wieliczka which is nearby

Karl, have you been there?

what about John, Pieter etc?

That is a possibility, Jaga. However, my challenge will be to fit in all that I wish to this coming summer. I was just visiting with a Lemko today in Tucson, Arizona and he and I seem to be unusual tourists. One of his comments was that on his last visit one Pole / Lemko told him he should be more like most tourists and visit Warsaw, Auschwitz and the Slat Mines instead of tramping through the woods looking for forgotten historic sites. It turns out he and I were in the same neighborhood (the Polish-Slovak border), and we both commented on the surprising hospitality we received in Poland.

So I may take a turn into civilization as well as the wilds if the chance comes. It seems it will be a full summer.

In the meantime I am in Southern Arizona getting acquainted with this beautiful state.

Kai

[Jaga]

Kai,

I almost feel that you are surprised that you met nice people in Poland....
Yes, we had hard times in Poland in 80s, but now Polish economy is better than the neighboring countries.
People are people everywhere, but economy does influence people's behavior to a certain degree, I agree.

[kaima]

Here is an excerpt from a book by an Englishman who traveled in Poland around the times of Partition (1792). The five volumes he wrote on "Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark" have copyright dates of 1792 and 1802 in the two volumes I have looked at. I eliminated a lot of the "long ss's" they used at the time, but I tried to stick with the old usage and spelling. Hyphenation was not common back then, so I re-unified the words for easier clarity - to eliminate some guess work.The volume on Poland is at Google books, under the title above, Volume 1, by William Coxe.

The layout of the text as read by OCR will pose some challenge, but add a touch of spice to your enjoyment.



Ç . 2 . SALT MINES OF WIELITSKA. <page> 149

Before we quitted this part of Poland, we visited the celebrated salt-mines of Wielitska, excavated in a ridge of hills at the northern extremity of the chain which joins the Carpathian
mountains : they take their appellation from the
small village of Wielitska;but are sometimes called
in foreign countries the mines of Cracow , from
their vicinity to that city .
Upon our arrival at Wielitska we repaired to
the mouth of the mine* . Having fastened three
separate hammocks round the great rope employed in drawing up the salt, we seated ourselves in
a commodious manner, and were gently let down
160 yards below the first layer of salt. Quitting
our hammocks, we passed a long and gradual descent, sometimes through broad passages or galleries capable of admitting several carriages
abreast ; sometimes down steps cut in the solid
salt, which had the grandeur and commodiousness of the stair-cafe in a palace. We each carried a light, and several guides preceded us with
lamps, the reflection of which from the glittering
sides of the mine was extremely beautiful; but
did not cast that luminous splendour, which some
writers compare to the lustre of precious stones.
· The salt is called Ziebna or Green salt, though
the colour is iron grey, and when pounded

as

• There are two other openings, down one of which the miners
desended by sairs, down the other by ladders.
apr çars


150 TRAVELs IN POLAND. B . 2.

appears like our brown salt. The quality improves in proportion to the depth . Towards the
sides and surface it is mixed with earthy or stony
particles ; lower it is said to be pure, and to require
no process before it is used. The finest of this grey
salt, however, is of a weak quality when com
pared with our common sea-salt : it is therefore
undoubtedly by no means pure, but blended with
extraneous particles, though it serves for common purposes. Being almost as hard as stone, the
miners hew it with pick -axes and hatchets, by a
tedious operation, into large blocks, many of
which weigh fix or seven hundred pounds. These
masses are raised by a windlass ; but the smaller
pieces are conveyed up by horses along a wind
ing gallery, which reaches to the surface of the
earth . Beside the grey species, the miners some
times discover small cubes of white salt, as trans
parent as chrystal, but not in any considerable
quantity : they find occasionally pieces of coal
and petrified wood buried in the salt.
The mine appears inexhaustible, as will easily
be conceived from the account of its dimensions.
The known breadth is 1115 feet, length 6691, and
depth 743; and the best judges on the spot suppose, with great probability, this solid body of
salt to branch into various directions, the extent
of which is unknown.
Our guide pointed out to us, what he considered


C . 2. sALT MINEs OF WIELITsKA. 151 -
dered as the most remarkable curiosity of the
place, several small chapels excavated in the salt,
in which mass is said on certain days. One of
these chapels is 30 feet long and 25 broad ; the
altar, crucifix , ornaments of the church , and
statues of several faints, are all carved out of the
salt. Many of the excavations or chambers are
of an immense size ; some are propped with timber, others by vast pillars of salt : several of large
dimensions are without support in the middle. I
remarked one in particular, which was so feet in
height, and so extremely long and broad, as
almost to appear without limits, amid the subterraneous gloom . The roofs of these vaults are
not arched, but flat. The immense size of the
chambers, with the spacious passages or galleries, together with the chapels, and a few sheds
for horses, probably gave rise to the exaggerated
accounts of some travellers, that these mines contain several villages inhabited by colonies of miners, who never see the light. There is certainly
room sufficient ; but the miners have no dwellings under ground, as they do not remain below
more than eight hours at a time, when they are
relieved by others. We found these mines
without damp or moisture ; observing only, in
our whole progress one small spring of water,
which is impregnated with salt .
such an enormous mass of salt exhibits a wonderful



152 TRAVELs IN POLAND. B . 2.
derful phænomenon in the natural history of
the globe. According to Guetard, who visited these mines, and published a treatise upon
the subject, the uppermost bed of earth at the
surface is sand ; the second clay, occasionally
mixed with sand and gravel, and containing petrifactions of marine bodies ; the third calcareous
stone; from which circumstances he conjectures
that this spot was formerly covered by the sea ,
and that the salt is a gradual deposit formed by
evaporation *
These mines have been worked , above 600
years, for they are mentioned in the Polish annals so early as 1237, under Boleslaus to the
Chaste. The profits were 'long appropriated to
the king's privy purse, and, before the partition ,
yielded annually £ . 97, 222 sterling. They are
now situated within the province which the Emperor dismembered, but the profits are much diminished ; for the Austrian commissioners imprudently raised the price of salt , conceiving that
Poland could not exist without drawing salt as
usual from Wielitska, and would therefore be
obliged to receive it at any price. This mode of
proceeding offending the Poles, the king of
Prussia imported large quantities of salt, which
* see Memoire sur les Mines de sel de Wielitska in Hist. de
l' Acad . des sciences for 1762.
· † Lengnich, jus Pub. vol. I. p. 249. i

he procured chiefly from Spain , to Dantzic,
Memmel, and Koningsburg, from whence it was
conveyed up the Vistula into the interior provinces. By these means he furnished great part
of Poland with salt, at a cheaper rate than the
inhabitants could procure it from the house of
Austria ; and in 1778 the mines of Wielitska only
supplied the districts which immediately border
upon Austrian Poland.

[kaima]

The determining factor in choosing to share this description with you is the final commentary on the Habsburgs taking advantage of the necessity of salt to wring as much money out of the people as possible. That is so typical Habsburgh!

The commentary speaks a bit to the misery of the farmers, the Confederacy, and other aspects of Polish history and culture of the time, and not always flatteringly. I imagine the polite commentary and political correctness was reserved for the royals and the nobility.

[Jaga]

Kai, good to know how famous Wieliczka was and still is because of the salt mine. Yes, Habsburgs took advantage of it, but before them Polish kings also used Wieliczka as their "gold" mine.

Aug 1, 2020 20:42:59 GMT -7 kaima said:

The determining factor in choosing to share this description with you is the final commentary on the Habsburgs taking advantage of the necessity of salt to wring as much money out of the people as possible. That is so typical Habsburgh!

The commentary speaks a bit to the misery of the farmers, the Confederacy, and other aspects of Polish history and culture of the time, and not always flatteringly. I imagine the polite commentary and political correctness was reserved for the royals and the nobility.