By DPA
Krakow (Poland) : The encounter with this particular world cultural heritage site begins with a flight of 378 steps leading down into the depths of the earth. Every year around 900,000 tourists clamber down the wooden staircase into Poland’s oldest salt mine Wieliczka near the city of Krakow.
The workings have been on the list of UNESCO’s world treasures since 1978, but they had become one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions long before that. Salt has been extracted from these parts for the last 700 years.
There are nine levels with 2,350 chambers connected by 240 km of passages and 180 shafts and tunnels. The 2.2 km route takes tourists to just 40 chambers but these include some of the most famous, namely chapels and even a cathedral for those who worked here. There are also several sculptures made of salt that were made by artistically talented miners.
Visitors are welcomed with the hearty miner’s greeting of “Szczesc Boze” (God bless you) before they embark upon their descent.
The first cavern is dedicated to the great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who is said to have inspected the mine as a student in the 15th century. In a number of other caverns the walls are covered with scenes of medieval miners toiling underground.
The most impressive sight for many visitors is an opulent chapel dedicated to the Hungarian princess Kinga, the patron saint of the miners around Krakow. It is sometimes referred to as the mine’s cathedral.
The chamber is 54 metres long, 18 metres wide and 12 metres high. Even the chandeliers hanging from the roof here are made of salt crystals and illuminated statuettes in the corners heighten the eerie atmosphere. They appear to be almost transparent.
The mine would not be complete without a memorial to the late Polish pontiff, John Paul II, and multilingual signs point out that this complex is not only a museum, but a subterranean place of worship which should elicit respect from visitors.
Solemn religious services are held down here regularly and the chapel is a popular place for people to wed, regardless of whether they have mining ancestry or connections.
The Weimar chamber includes a memorial to the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is known to have toured Wieliczka with the Prince of Weimar Sep 6, 1790. In this cavern with its brine lake visitors are treated to a mini-show of lights flickering along the walls. The sound of Chopin’s Nocturne, interspersed with dynamite explosions, comes from loudspeakers on the walls.
The Staszic Chamber, the tallest cavern on the tourist route with a roof soaring to 35 metres, was once a grim place. In 1944, during World War II, Jewish slave workers were forced to assemble armaments here. The rapid westward advance of Russia’s Red Army prompted the Nazis to later abandon the underground factory to the enemy.
Those who want to enjoy a snack or a little something to drink during the tour of the salt mine have no need to board the lift back to the surface. The Witold-Budryk chamber 123 metres underground is home to a cosy pub furnished in rustic southern Polish style.
It’s a good place to enjoy an invigorating bowl of the red beet soup known as barszcz or some of the stuffed dumplings (pierogi). For those who prefer to dine more elegantly there is an upmarket restaurant next door.
More information is available on the Internet at http:/www.kopalnia.pl (In English).