Wieliczka Salt Mine in Wieliczka, Poland
The Wieliczka Salt Mine, in the town of Wieliczka, southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area.
From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced there from the upwelling brine. The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. Throughout its history, the royal salt mine was operated by the Żupy Krakowskie (Kraków Salt Mines) company.
Due to falling salt prices and mine flooding, commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument (Pomnik Historii). Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt, and more recent sculptures by contemporary artists.
The mine is currently one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomniki historii), whose attractions include dozens of statues and four chapels carved out of the rock salt by the miners. The older sculptures have been supplemented with new carvings made by contemporary artists. About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.
Notable visitors to this site have included Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Fryderyk Chopin, Dmitri Mendeleyev, Bolesław Prus, Ignacy Paderewski, Robert Baden-Powell, Jacob Bronowski (who filmed segments of The Ascent of Man in the mine), the von Unrug family (a prominent Polish-German royal family), Karol Wojtyła (later, Pope John Paul II), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and many others.
There is a chapel, and a reception room that is used for private functions, including weddings. A chamber has walls carved by miners to resemble wood, as in wooden churches built in early centuries. A wooden staircase provides access to the mine's 64-metre level. A 3-kilometre tour features corridors, chapels, statues, and underground lake, 135 metres underground. An elevator returns visitors to the surface; the elevator holds 36 persons and takes about 30 seconds to make the trip.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine reaches a depth of 327 meters, and extends via horizontal passages and chambers for over 287 kilometers. The rock salt is naturally of varying shades of grey, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white crystalline substance that might be expected.
Since the 13th century, brine welling up to the surface had been collected and processed for its sodium chloride (table-salt) content. In this period, wells began to be sunk, and the first shafts to be dug to extract the rock salt. In the late 13th to the early 14th century, the Saltworks Castle was built. Wieliczka is now home to the Kraków Saltworks Museum.
King Casimir III the Great contributed greatly to the development of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, granting it many privileges and taking the miners under his care. In 1363 he founded a hospital near the salt mine.
Over the period of the mine's operation, many chambers were dug and various technologies were added, such as the Hungarian horse treadmill and the Saxon treadmill for hauling salt to the surface. During World War II, the mine was used by the occupying Germans as an underground facility for war-related manufacturing.
The mine features an underground lake, exhibits on the history of salt mining, and a 3.5-kilometer visitors' route (less than 2 percent of the mine passages' total length) including statues carved from the rock salt at various times.
The mine is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomniki historii), as designated in the first round, 16 September 1994. Its listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland. In 2010 it was successfully proposed that the nearby historic Bochnia Salt Mine (Poland's oldest salt mine) be added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. The two sister salt mines now appear together in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites as the Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines. In 2013 the UNESCO World Heritage Site was expanded by the addition of the Żupny Castle.
The earliest writings about the Wieliczka Salt Mine include a description by Adam Schröter: Salinarum Vieliciensium incunda ac vera descriptio. Carmine elegiaco... (in 1553); augmented edition, Regni Poloniae Salinarum Vieliciensium descriptio. Carmine elegiaco... (in 1564).
In 1995, Preisner's Music, a compilation of film music by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner, was recorded by Sinfonia Varsovia in the Wieliczka mine's chapel. The chapel is often said to have the best acoustics in Europe.
In the Australia television series Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord, the mines were used as the Land of the Moloch.
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Poland/Kraków/Wieliczka (Salt Mine) Part 15
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Wieliczka Salt Mine:
The Wieliczka Salt Mine (Polish: Kopalnia soli Wieliczka), located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area. Opened in the 13th century, the mine produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest salt mines in operation. Throughout, the Royal mine was run by the Żupy krakowskie Salt Mines company.Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding.The mine's attractions include dozens of statues and four chapels carved out of the rock salt by the miners. The older sculptures have been supplemented with new carvings made by contemporary artists. About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.The mine is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomniki historii), as designated in the first round, 16 September 1994. Its listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland.The Wieliczka Salt Mine helped inspire the Labyrinth scenes in Bolesław Prus' 1895 historical novel, Pharaoh.Prus combined his powerful 1878 impressions of the salt mine with the description of the ancient Egyptian Labyrinth, in Book II of Herodotus' Histories, to produce the remarkable scenes found in chapters 56 and 63 of his novel.
Notable visitors to this site have included Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Fryderyk Chopin, Dmitri Mendeleyev, Bolesław Prus, Ignacy Paderewski, Robert Baden-Powell, Jacob Bronowski (who filmed segments of The Ascent of Man in the mine), the von Unrug family (a prominent Polish-German royal family), Karol Wojtyła (later, Pope John Paul II), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and many others.
St. Kinga's Chapel, deep in the Wieliczka salt mine.
There is a chapel, and a reception room that is used for private functions, including weddings. A chamber has walls carved by miners to resemble wood, as in wooden churches built in early centuries.
A wooden staircase with 378 steps provides access to the mine's 64-metre (210-foot) level. A 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) tour features corridors, chapels, statues, and underground lake, 135 metres (443 ft) underground. An elevator (lift) returns visitors to the surface; the elevator holds 36 persons (nine per car) and takes some 30 seconds to make the trip.
La mine de sel de Wieliczka
Les mineurs de toutes les époques ont creusé dans la mine des chambres, galeries, chapelles, des ateliers et des réserves. Et ils les ont aménagés et décorés au fil du temps, selon leurs traditions et croyances religieuses, avec foi ou humour.
Leur héritage comporte une importante statuaire : Rois, reines, hommes célèbres, aussi bien que nains et lutins, censés les aider secrètement et les protéger des dangers de la mine. C’est ainsi qu’on trouve les nains de Blanche neige, La Cène ou les Noces de Cana, ou Nicolas Copernic et Kazimir le Grand, dans un raccourci socio-culturel magistral ! Comme un hommage de la Pologne moderne au patrimoine commun, la statue du pape Jean Paul II se dresse maintenant à l’entrée de la Chapelle de Kinga !
Les mineurs ont laissé aussi un grand nombre d’outils et de machines et de représentations du travail d’extraction du sel gemme. Ce témoignage technique ou poétique couvre surtout les périodes du 17e au 20e siècles. La documentation pour les périodes plus anciennes n’est pas aussi abondante.
Wieliczka salt mine Krakow, Poland vlog
Wieliczka salt mine Krakow, Poland vlog
This episode we are visiting the UNESCO world site Wieliczka salt mine near Krakow, Poland.
(Text adapted from Wikipedia)
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is less than 20km away from Krakow. Opened in the 13th century, the mine produced table salt continuously until 2007.
The legend says that the hungarian Princess Kinga was about to be married to Bolesław V the Chaste, the Prince of Kraków. As part of her dowry, she asked her father, Béla IV of Hungary, for a lump of salt. King Béla took her to a salt mine in Máramaros, in Romania where She threw her engagement ring in one of the shafts. On arriving in Kraków, she asked the miners to dig a deep pit until they come upon a rock. The people found a lump of salt in there and inside-the princess's ring. Kinga had thus become the patron saint of salt miners in and around the Polish capital.
History
The Wieliczka salt mine reaches a depth of 330 meters and is almost 300 kilometres long. The rock salt is naturally grey in various shades, resembling unpolished granite rather than the white that many visitors may expect. In the 13th century, rock salt was discovered in Wieliczka and the first shafts were dug. Through the ages, different technology was added such as the Hungarian-type horse treadmill and Saxon treadmills to bring the salt to surface. During World War II, the shafts were used by the occupying Germans as an facility for various war-related industries.
Tourism
The Wieliczka mine is often referred to as the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland. In 1978 it was placed on the original UNESCO list of the World Heritage Sites.
The mine attractions include dozens of statues and four chapels carved out of the rock salt by the miners. The older sculptures have been supplemented with new carvings made by contemporary artists.
Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance. Wieliczka mine also houses a private rehabilitation and wellness complex.
About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually. Notable visitors to this site have included Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Fryderyk Chopin, Dmitri Mendeleyev, the Pope John Paul II, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
There is a chapel, and a reception room that is used for private functions, including weddings. A chamber has walls carved by miners to resemble wood, as in wooden churches built in early centuries. A wooden staircase provides access to the mine's 64-metre level. A 3-kilometre tour features corridors, chapels, statues, and underground lake, 135 metres underground.
The Entrance ticket is not cheap- around 20 Euros per person but it includes a live guide, in different languages. The Wieliczka salt mine can be visited on the normal tourist route or on the adventurous miners route which allows the visitors to discover the inner workings of the mine. They will measure the concentration of methane, dig salt and explore unknown chambers.
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Chapel of Saint Kinga in Weliczka salt mines.
Wednesday(9-9-2015) :- Weliczka mines is also referred to as the UNDERGROUND SALT CATHEDRAL of Poland. At approximately 90 meters underground is the Holy Cross Chapel. Beautiful altars and statues occupy the chamber as miners were very religious since their profession was always a gamble between life and death let alone normal living.The Chapel of Holy cross was created after the miners survived a miraculous escape from a water leak into the mines in the middle of the 19th century.The most recent human created chapel is the Chapel of Pope St John.Paul II chapel in the renovated Aleksandrowice Chamber created in 2014.Pilgrims touring the salt mines celebrate a mass in this chapel .The Chapel of St Kinga next to Pope John Paul II chapel is considered the crown jewel of the Wieliczka salt mine being the largest monumental chapel. Bibilical theme sculptors decorate the rock walls including the last supper of Leonardo Da Vinci.St Kinga is considered the patron saint of the salt miners and her statue faces the entrance to the chapel.Read my blog :-
Wieliczka Salt Mine: An Underground Monument in Krakow, Poland
The Wieliczka Salt Mine (Polish: Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka) is one of the most amazing sites you will ever in Krakow, Poland. The salt mine opened in the 13th century and has produced table salt continuously until 2007. The mine's attractions include dozens of statues and four chapels carved out of the rock salt by the miners. Often referred to as the underground salt cathedral of Poland, the mine was placed on the original UNESCO list of the World Heritage Sites in 1978.
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Pèlerinage en Pologne 2016
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WYD2016 Blog 12 - A Pilgrim's Guide to the Sanctuary of JPll
A Pilgrim's Guide to the Sanctuary of Pope John Paul ll.
The sanctuary of Pope John Paul ll is located only a short walk from the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow.
It is also known as the Have no Fear John Paul ll Centre
The sanctuary is full of incredible artwork, even the bronze doors tell the story of JPll's pontificate.
Upstairs in the main chapel are the beautiful mosaic artworks of a Jesuit priest Fr Marco Ivan Rupnik.
There is also the papal cassock stained with blood that Pope John Paul ll was wearing during the assassination on his life on the 13th of May, 1981. Next to the cassock is a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Did you know Pope John Paul ll was shot on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, and credited her intercession to saving his life that day? He even donated one of the bullets that entered his body to the shrine in Fatima and the bullet now rests in Our Lady's Crown.
The colourful mosaic artworks depict many scenes from the bible including:
Pentecost, Peter betraying Christ, The Resurrection and more.
Downstairs there is an octagonal basement shrine to Pope John Paul ll.
The paintings depict events during the pontificate of Pope John Paul ll namely his visits to the world's most famous Marian Shrines.
The centrepiece of the lower sanctuary is a marble altar which contains a relic of the blood of Pope John Paul ll displayed in a glass case.There are several side chapels in the lower sanctuary including a chapel based on the Wieliczka Salt Mine Cathedral of Saint Kinga – this chapel again has scenes from the scriptures all hand carved out of salt.
Saint Pope John Paul as we travel as pilgrims to your home country, Poland open the ears of our heart to receive and renew the good news of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Many thanks to the Sanktuarium św. Jana Pawła II w Krakowie for some of the footage in the Video Blog - Check out their YouTube channel here:
Episode 3 - In Krakow, a salty offering to Polish saints
At the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga, built to honor the patron saint of Polish miners, everything is carved out of salt, including the walls, floor, statues -- even the chandeliers.
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Pondering the Cost of War in Warsaw's Gorgeous Lazienki Park
While in Warsaw, I couldn’t help but fixate on the cost of war. I know how lovingly I collect and organize my physical world in my house. But virtually every house in Warsaw was destroyed in 1945...so many cultural and personal treasures simply gone forever. And, now, just two generations later, Germans and Russians stroll through the city on vacation — joking, licking ice cream cones, and snapping photos. Of course, we need to forgive and move on. I’m just amazed at how good Poland is at it. Perhaps some other countries — victims of similar horrors — can learn from the Poles. As Hubert says in this clip, “Hate changes nothing.”
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25 years of Jordan Group 1.12.2013 Krakow Poland
JORDAN GROUP has for 25 years provided tourist services at the highest level, being one of the largest businesses in the tourist sector in Małopolska. Winner of numerous awards in the tourist sector, we own a top-standard fleet (30 coaches and minibuses) and have our own accommodation, the Galaxy**** Hotel (opened in 2011), the Antica*** Hotel and Pokoje Gościnne Długa*** in Kraków, as well as the Pensjonat Jordanówka boarding house in the mountains close to Zakopane. We organise conferences, symposia, and business meetings. We offer tours of the sights of Poland and local trips (Auschwitz, Wieliczka, pilgrimages in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II) where services are provided by multilingual certified guides. We have a broad range of tourist services for organised groups and for individual tourists, including a different visit to Kraków for children. We build a programme for your stay so that it conforms to your needs at competitive prices!
Wadowice, Poland
Wadowice, Poland 2014, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II.,
rodiště papeže Jana Pavla II.
After the war, in 1945 Wadowice retained its powiat town status and until 1975 served as a notable centre of commerce and transport in the Kraków Voivodeship. After that the town was transferred to the newly created Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship. After the peaceful transformation of the political and economical system in Poland (in 1989), most of the local industry was found inefficient and went bankrupt. However, the ecological and historical heritage of the area as well as its status as the birthplace of Pope Saint John Paul II led to fast growth of tourism. Currently more than 200,000 people visit Wadowice every year and this number is rising.
Wadowice
FRENCH POLONIA For NOTRE DAME - CONCERT. – Poland In
A concert organized by the French #Polonia took place at the Paris church La Madelaine. All proceeds from tickets will be donated to the reconstruction of #NotreDame Cathedral which burned down in April this year. Watch the video to find out more!
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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland - Wonders of the Modern World!
One of the 12 original/first 'World Heritage Sites' of the UNESCO, and one of the Poland's official national Historic Monuments, and having the one and only underground church in Europe, and Poland's oldest business venture, the Wieliczka Salt Mine started in the 13th century, i.e., 700 years ago and continued producing salt till 2007.
The word 'Salary' was derived from the word Salt because salt used to be an expensive commodity in olden times and European soldiers were given wages in terms of salt.
The income generated by this mine and from selling salt was a huge capital injection for the country during the times of King Casimir the Great. It covered 1/3 of the state treasury income.
In 700 years, Polish people dug a whopping 287 km of horizontal meandering corridors/passages, magnificent chambers chiselled out in rock salt, underground saline lakes, majestic timber constructions and unique statues sculpted in salt. Today it attracts 1.2 million tourists annually and given the ticket price of Rs 1700 (US$ 25/Euro 21), it generates Rs 200 crore (US$ 30 million/Euro 25 million) annually for Poland. In 2018, around 2 million tourists visited this mine.
It's list of tourists include noted personalities like POTUS Bill Clinton, pioneer of Heliocentrism Nicolaus Copernicus, inventor of Periodic Table Dmitri Mendeleyev, Pope John Paul II to name a few.
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Polish cathedral
I recorded this while I was in Warsaw, Poland.
080405 Warsaw Poland St John's Cathedral
080405 Warsaw Poland St John's Cathedral
Wieliczka Salt mine, Poland
I put together some of my holiday shots and some music. If you have the chance to go see this mine, go for it! It was fun!
Corpus Christi Feast + Salt Mine in Krakow, Poland- Catholic Tour
Corpus Christi procession from the Wawel Cathedral to Krakow's central Grand Square gathers vast crowds of the faithful, led by Krakow archbishop, as Our Lord's statue is carried to four street altars among a shower of flower petals.
Later...
Krakow's World-class Attraction, the Salt Mine UNESCO
A UNESCO site which is among the top twelve attractions in the world. Today the mine reaches a depth of more than a 1,000 feet.
The highlight is the Chapel of St Kinga. It is entirely made out of salt, richly furnished with sculptures, bas-reliefs, and large chandeliers made from salt crystals.
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Take yourself back in history by visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum. Art works definitely flourished in Poland. See the stunning beauty of sculptures and other art works made from salt in Wieliczka Salt Mine and be a witness to a wonderful presentation of Polish culture in the famous Baltic Amber Gallery. Aside from that, Poland takes pride about the breathtaking views they can offer to all visitors in Tatra Mountains Region. Complete your Polish experience by satisfying your palate with delectable polish cuisines.
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