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Wieliczka Salt Mine 2024

Brine – salt water drawn from springs – used to be boiled in small clay vessels, on modest hearths. In this simple way, salt was obtained already in the Neolithic times. The oldest saltworking tools in Central Europe, discovered in the village of Barycz, near Wieliczka, come from this period. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, when the salt springs began to weaken and disappear, an active search for brine was started through the construction of wells. Salt water was extracted from the well to the surface, and then boiled in iron pans until the pure evaporated salt remained. At that time, the whole region of Wieliczka developed, there were three residential settlements, two stone churches, trade and craft flourished. In the 13th century, while one of the saline wells was being dug, the first lumps of rock salt were accidentally found. The discovery of the valuable raw material turned out to be revolutionary. It made it possible to obtain salt by mining methods – the first shaft leading underground was struck as early as the second half of the 13th century. Who did this? The latest research suggests that the extraction was carried out by local specialists, but the technological knowledge was brought from Western Europe. Casimir III is the only Polish king who was given the moniker Great by his descendants. Wieliczka had already gained fame and renown, and the first visitors descended to the underground. The first tourist whom we know by name was Nicolaus Copernicus. He probably visited the mine in 1493, and in remembrance of this event, a monumental salt figure of the brilliant astronomer was set up in a chamber named after him. You can admire it while walking along the Tourist Route. In 1772, the first partition of Poland took place. Three neighbouring superpowers, Russia, Austria and Prussia, took control of part of the Commonwealth, leading to the shifting of borders. Wieliczka came under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy. Despite the lack of a Polish state, the Mine continued to develop. The new owners planned the long-term development of the company and did not spare money for security, paying great attention to the technical condition of the equipment. The attention that the Austrians paid to the Mine was not accidental at all. “Wieliczka” was the largest production plant in Galicia at the time, and one of the most important companies in the entire empire. In 1774, guest books were introduced to be signed by visitors. They have been preserved to this day and are a valuable historical resource – thanks to them, we can learn about the tourist traffic of old and follow its growth in the following decades. While at the end of the 18th century, the number of guests reached several dozen a month, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was as high as a hundred people a week. Visitors at that time were burghers – wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials, secular and clerical magnates, members of aristocratic and royal families. After the end of the World War I and the regaining of independence by Poland, the mine once again became the property of the Polish State Treasury and was taken under Polish administration. It was a long-awaited moment, for which the inhabitants of Wieliczka and miners working underground had waited for about 150 years. The names of the shafts and excavations were symbolically changed at that time, e.g. Empress Elisabeth’s Shaft was renamed to St Kinga’s Shaft. During the interwar period (1918–1939), the Wieliczka underground was visited by about 120,000 people. Shortly before World War II, a system of leaching – obtaining brine by dissolving salt rocks with water – was developed. After the war, the miners returned to using the system. After the World War II, which was marked in the history of the mine by intensified excavations, a very difficult time for the mine occurred, because the 1940s and 1950s were characterised by an increase in production regardless of the cost, without taking care to secure the workings. Eventually, the mine grew to nine levels, with a maximum depth of 327 metres. In 1964, the mining of rock salt in Wieliczka was completely discontinued in favour of the industrial production of evaporated salt using the wet mining method. The year 1978 proved to be important for the contemporary history of the mine, bringing the addition to the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List, as did the year 1992 (water leakage in the Mina Crosscut). In 1996 a decision was made to end industrial salt production in Wieliczka. Since 1976, the underground Wieliczka has been listed in the register of monuments, and in 1994, it was declared a national Historic Monument by the President of the Republic of Poland. Every day, several hundred miners make sure that the Mine is a safe place and that it survives in the best possible condition for future generations.