“Wieliczka” Salt Mine

The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine is an extraordinary place - hidden from the world, full of secrets and legends.
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.
Over more than 700 years, 26 shafts were struck in Wieliczka and 9 million m³ of post-excavation voids were drilled.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument 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.