Posted on 08/16/2011 5:07:02 AM PDT by marshmallow
Deep underground in Poland lies something remarkable but little known outside Eastern Europe. For centuries, miners have extracted salt there, but left behind things quite startling and unique. Take a look at the most unusual salt mine in the world.
From the outside, Wieliczka Salt Mine doesn’t look extraordinary. It looks extremely well kept for a place that hasn’t minded any salt for over ten years but apart from that it looks ordinary. However, over two hundred meters below ground it holds an astonishing secret. This is the salt mine that became an art gallery, cathedral and underground lake.
Situated in the Krakow area, Wieliczka is a small town of close to twenty thousand inhabitants. It was founded in the twelfth century by a local Duke to mine the rich deposits of salt that lie beneath. Until 1996 it did just that but the generations of miners did more than just extract. They left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the shape of statues of mythic, historical and religious figures. They even created their own chapels in which to pray. Perhaps their most astonishing legacy is the huge underground cathedral they left behind for posterity.
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The pictures are truly amazing and beautiful. Thanks for posting!
If I ever travel to Poland this will be a must see.
wonderful- thanks
That is so pretty.
What a marvel. This mine needs to be preserved. It doesn’t seem likely that there are any other such collections of religious folk art in the world, does it?
thanks for posting...
ping
“You are the salt of the earth.”
We visited this mine a few years back, it is worth your time.
It seems Catholic miners build cathedrals wherever they go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Cathedral_of_Zipaquir%C3%A1
I’ve heard of them in South America, too.
In fact, there’s a sizeable salt church in Bochnia, Poland, too.
(”Salt Cathedral” is, in fact, a misnomer: “Cathedral” doesn’t mean “big church.” It’s the church which houses a bishop’s throne, or, in Latin, “cathedra.”)
I just visited there in May. The pictures don’t do it justice. The church in the first picture hits you as you come around a corner, stepping onto an upper mezzanine that overlooks the whole thing. It is absolutely enormous, and gorgeous. Everything in there is carved from salt, from the patterns in the floor to the chandelier crystals. The relief sculptures on the walls are finely carved with amazing detail.
As you walk through it, the air smells in a very good way of pine and creosote (from the mostly wood shorings that have to be used because the salt rusts everything metal) and salt. The rest of the mine is filled with carvings and statues, a few underground lakes and pools, and some wooden support structures that are bafflingly huge.
If you are ever in Krakow (and in my opinion there’s no place more worth going in all of Europe), this is a must see attraction.
My foot and hip were hurting so much I did not go down into the mine on our pilgrimage, but purused the gift shop and got our priest and pilgrimage leader two salt lamps that glowed orange through the salt crystals.
Some more pictures here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1656106/posts?page=114#114
You're right about Krakow. I would go again if I could afford it!
My job requires me to spend a month or two in Poland every year. The great food, great beer, amazing cities, the free people who still remember that communists totally suck, and just an overall cool country. I guess I’ll just have to grin and bear it!
LOL! Do you ever get over to Czech Republic?
Wonderful sites — especially Our Lady of Victory that houses the Infant of Prague.
Eastern Europe Ping!
I am so jealous.
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