Wieliczka Salt mine

The salt mine at Wieliczka, near Krakow in southern Poland, is a World Heritage Site. This mine has been worked continuously since Medieval times and consists over 200 km of underground passages, connecting more than 2000 excavation chambers. The miners have carved magnificent underground rooms and sculptures with the Miocene salt. Also visit, The Great Cathedral, a large chamber carved entirely within salt, including floor, walls, ceiling, and decorations. Here the chandeliers are also made with salt crystals, which are really matchless.

Over the centuries, miners have established a tradition of carving sculptures out of the native rock salt. As a result, the mine contains entire underground churches, altars, bas-reliefs, and dozens of large statues. It also houses an underground museum and has a number of special purpose chambers such as a sanatorium for people suffering from respiratory ailments. The largest of the chapels, the Chapel of the Blessed King, is located 101 meters below the surface, it is over 50 meters long, 15 meters wide, 12 meters high, with a volume of 10,000 cubic meters. It receives up to a million visitors yearly, most of them during the warmer summer months. So take a tour to Salt Mine at Wieliczka and appreciate the man-made beauty of this wonderland called Poland.