Wieliczka Salt Mine

Salt was the wealth of medieval Poland, and much of it came from under the small town of Wieliczka, just southeast of Kraków. Brine had been boiled here since Neolithic times; by the 13th century miners were sinking shafts into the rock salt itself, and the royal mine went on producing table salt without a break until 1996, when falling prices and flooding ended commercial work. Over seven centuries they dug a labyrinth that reaches 327 metres below ground and runs for more than 287 km of passages and chambers.

What makes Wieliczka exceptional is what the miners made of the spaces they emptied. Working in grey rock salt that looks more like unpolished granite than anything from a salt cellar, they carved statues, altars and whole chapels. The largest, the Chapel of Saint Kinga, is a church hall cut entirely from salt, and it is still used for events, including weddings. Kinga, a Hungarian princess who married the Prince of Kraków, is the miners' patron saint: legend says she threw her engagement ring into a Hungarian salt shaft and it was found again in the first lump of salt dug at Wieliczka.

The standard Tourist Route follows about 2.2 km through the upper three levels, past chapels, brine lakes and a chamber whose salt walls were carved to imitate timber, and takes around an hour and a half; visitors descend by wooden stairs and return to the surface in a mine lift. It connects with a Museum Route of about 1.5 km on the third level, showing horse-powered hoisting treadmills, salt crystals and the great Maria Teresa and Saurau chambers. A more demanding Miners' Route takes groups through unimproved galleries in helmets and overalls, with their own lamps. Altogether the public routes cover less than 2 per cent of the mine.

The mine was on UNESCO's very first World Heritage List in 1978, and was later joined by the nearby Bochnia mine and the Saltworks Castle in Wieliczka. The mine also has darker chapters: in 1944 the German occupiers brought Jewish forced labourers here for an underground armaments factory. Copernicus, Goethe and Chopin are among the famous visitors; today around 1.2 million people come each year.

Getting there

The mine is in the centre of Wieliczka, less than 1 km from the town square. Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK) is about 22 km away. Regional trains run from Kraków Główny station to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia in about 25 minutes, with one or two departures an hour, and the station is a few minutes' walk from the mine.