Wieliczka Salt Mine
Polish salt mine operated for 700 years / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Wieliczka Salt Mine (Polish: Kopalnia soli Wieliczka) is a salt mine in the town of Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland.
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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Location | Wieliczka, Kraków County, Lesser Poland Province, Poland |
Part of | Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines |
Includes |
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Criteria | Cultural: (iv) |
Reference | 32ter |
Inscription | 1978 (2nd Session) |
Extensions | 2008, 2013 |
Endangered | 1989–1998[1] |
Area | 970 ha (2,400 acres) |
Buffer zone | 250 ha (620 acres) |
Website | www |
Coordinates | 49°58′45″N 20°3′50″E |
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 1996,[2] 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.[3][4]
Due to falling salt prices and mine flooding, commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996.[3][4]
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument (Pomnik Historii) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 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.