Salt mine Wieliczka / Soľná baňa Wieliczka

I wrote this post in two languages. In English and Slovak language.

Hi!

Our trip around the Lesser Poland Voivodeship continues. After all, the day has 24 hours, and if you want, you can do a lot. We have already seen the beautiful wooden church in Lipnica Murowanej and this time our bus takes us to probably the most beautiful salt mine in Europe, the Wieliczka mine.

As I have already mentioned, the Wieliczka Salt Mine is located in Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, near the historic city of Krakow. This gem is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We get off the bus and despite the fact that it is pleasantly warm outside, we take thin windbreakers with us. We still go to the mine, where the temperature ranges from 14-16 degrees Celsius.

We walk down the endless spiraling wooden stairs. Our trip acquires the right atmosphere. Feel the salt in the air. What will it be?

We finally come down. Fortunately, none of us suffer from claustrophobia, because that would be a problem.

Right at the beginning of the parade, he has attracted statues created by miners. All are precisely made of salt. Since the miners spent most of their time in the mine, they tried to make the space in which they lived somehow more pleasant.

At present, modern mine equipment is used to warn miners that there is an increased amount of dangerous gases in the mine. This was not the case in the past and their presence had to be verified by the miners themselves.

It went something like this. As the gas piled up, the miner lay on the ground with a lit torch on a long club. Here he lifted himself up and a dangerous gas ignited. The mining shaft was therefore safe.

Not only people worked in the mine. Horses also did hard work here. Unlike the miners, the horses left the mine only after their death.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the oldest mines in the world. Mining took place in it from the 13th century until 1996.

I would consider this room to be perhaps the most beautiful part of the mine.

We are located in the chapel of St. Kingy. It is decorated with various reliefs on the walls. There is also an altar and a picture of the Last Supper.

There are several chapels in the mine. This is because the miners prayed daily that they would return safely to their families after hard work.

After 20,000 tons of salt were extracted from the mine, this room was created. Today, various celebrations or weddings are held there.

I must say that the tour of this mine was extremely interesting and informative. It is said that salt over gold and here it pays 100 percent. Thanks to salt, generations of people have lived in this area and the rulers have become rich from it.

I definitely recommend a visit to the Wieliczka mine and the nearby Bochnia mine.

Thank you

Ahoj!

Náš výlet po Malopoľskom vojvodstve pokračuje ďalej. Deň má predsa 24 hodín a keď sa chce, tak sa zaň dá toho veľa stihnúť. Krásny drevený kostolík v Lipnici Murowanej sme už videli a tentoraz nás náš autobus vezie k asi najkrajšej soľnej bani v Európe, k bani Wieliczka.

Ako som už spomínal, Soľná baňa Wieliczka sa nachádza v Poľsku, v Malopoľskom vojvodstve, neďaleko historického mesta Krakow. Tento skvost je zapísaný v kultúrnom dedičstve UNESCO.

Vystupujeme z autobusu a napriek tomu, že je vonku príjemné teplo, berieme si so sebou tenké vetrovky. Ideme predsa do bane, v ktorej sa teplota pohybuje od 14-16 stupňov celzia. 

Kráčame dole po nekonečných točiacich sa drevených schodoch. Náš výlet naberá tú správnu atmosféru. Vo vzduchu cítiť soľ. Čím to asi bude?

Konečne prichádzame dole. Našťastie nikto z nás netrpí klaustrofóbiou, pretože tu by mal problém. 

Hneď na začiatku prehliadky má upútali sochy, ktoré vytvorili baníci. Všetky sú precízne vyrobené zo soli. Nakoľko baníci trávili v bani väčšinu času, snažili si priestor v ktorom žili nejako spríjemniť.

V súčasnosti sa pri práci v baniach používajú moderné zariadenia, ktoré baníkov varujú, že v bani sa nachádza zvýšené množstvo nebezpečných plynov. V minulosti tomu tak nebolo a ich prítomnosť si museli overiť samotní baníci.

Prebiehalo to nejako takto. Nakoľko sa plyn hromadil hore, baník si ľahol na zem so zapálenou fakľou, ktorá bola na dlhej palici. Tu zodvihol hore a nebezpečný plyn sa vznietil. Banská šachta bola tým pádom bezpečná.

V bani nepracovali len ľudia. Ťažkú prácu tu vykonávali aj kone. Na rozdiel od baníkov, kone baňu opustili až po svojej smrti.

Soľná baňa Wieliczka patrí medzi najstaršie bane na svete. Ťažba v nej prebiehala už od 13. storočia až do roku 1996.

Za azda najkrajšiu časť bane by som považoval túto miestnosť. 

Nachádzame sa v kaplnke sv. Kingy. Po stenách je zdobená rôznymi reliéfmi. Nechýba tu ani oltár a obraz poslednej večere.

V bani sa nachádza niekoľko kaplniek. Je to preto, že baníci sa denno denne modlili za to, aby sa po ťažkej práci bezpečné vrátili na zemský povrch k svojim rodinám.

Po tom, čo sa vyťažilo z bane 20000 ton soli vznikla táto miestnosť. Dnes sa v nej usporadúvajú rôzne oslavy či svadby.

Musím povedať, že prehliadka tejto bane bola mimoriadne zaujímavá a poučná. Hovorí sa že soľ nad zlato a tu to platí na 100 percent. Vďaka soli žili v tejto oblasti generácie ľudí a bohatli z nej panovníci.

Návštevu bane Wieliczka a neďalekej bane Bochnia jednoznačne odporúčam.

Ďakujem

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