[BITList] Polish Salt Mine
FS
franka at iinet.net.au
Fri Jun 14 18:00:13 BST 2013
Its a strange world when one takes into consideration that while the
miners were doing this below ground, the extermination camps were going
flat out above ground
frank
*
**Deep underground in Poland lies something remarkable, but
little Known outside Eastern Europe.
For centuries, miners have extracted salt there, but left behind
things quite startling and unique. Take a look at the most
unusual salt mine in the world.
[]**
**
From the outside, Wieliczka Salt Mine doesn't look
extraordinary. It looks extremely well kept for a place that
hasn't minded any salt for over ten years but apart from that it
looks ordinary. However, over two hundred meters below ground it
holds an astonishing secret.
This is the salt mine that became an art gallery, cathedral and
underground lake.
**
[]
**
[]
Situated in the Krakow area, Wieliczka is a small town of close
to twenty thousand inhabitants. It was founded in the twelfth
century by a local duke to mine the rich deposits of salt that
lie beneath.
Until 1996 it did just that, but the generations of miners did
more than just extract. They left behind them a breathtaking
record of their time underground in the shape of statues of
mythic, historical and religious
Figures. They even created their own chapels in which to pray.
Perhaps their most astonishing legacy is the huge underground
cathedral they left behind for posterity.
**
**[]**
[]
**
It may feel like you are in the middle of a Jules Verne
adventure as you descend in to the depths of the world. After a
one hundred and fifty meter climb down wooden, stairs the
visitor to the salt mine will see some
Amazing sites. About the most astounding in terms of its sheer
size and audacity is the Chapel of Saint Kinga.
The Polish people have for many Centuries been devout Catholics
and this was more than just a long term hobby to relieve the
boredom of being underground. This was an act of worship.
[]
**
**
[]
Amazingly, even the chandeliers in the cathedral are made of
salt. It was not simply hewn from the ground and then thrown
together; However, the process is rather more painstaking for
the lighting.**
**
After extraction, the rock salt was first of all dissolved. It
was then reconstituted with the impurities taken out so that it
achieved a glass-like finish. The chandeliers are what many
visitors think the rest of the cavernous mine will be like as
they have a picture in their minds of salt as they would
sprinkle on their meals! However, the rock salt occurs naturally
in different shades of grey (something like you would expect
granite to look like).
[]
**
[]
**
Still, that doesn't stop well over one million visitors (mainly
from Poland and its eastern European neighbors) from visiting
the mine to see, amongst other things, how salt was mined in the
past.
**
**
[]**
**
For safety reasons less than one percent of the mine is open to
visitors, but even that is still almost four kilometers in
length – more than enough to weary the average tourist after an
hour or two.
The mine was closed for two reasons – the low price of salt on
the world market made it too expensive to extract here. Also,
the mine was slowly flooding – another reason why visitors are
restricted to certain areas only.
**
**[]**
**
The religious carvings are, in reality, what draw many to this
mine – as much for their amazing verisimilitude as for their
Christian Aesthetics. The above shows Jesus appearing to the
apostles after the Crucifixion. He shows the doubter, Saint
Thomas , the wounds on his wrists.
[]**
**Another remarkable carving, this time a take on The Last Supper.
The work and patience that must have gone into the creation of
these sculptures is extraordinary. One wonders what the miners
would have thought of their work going on general display?
They came to be quite used to it, in fact, even during the mines
busiest period in the nineteenth century. The Cream of Europe's
thinkers visited the site – you can still see many of their
names in the old visitor's books on display.
[]**
[]
**
These reliefs are perhaps among some of the most iconographic
works of Christian folk art in the world and really do deserve
to be shown.
It comes as little surprise to learn that the mine was placed on
the original list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites back in 1978.
**
[]
[]
[]
**
Not all of the work is relief-based. There are many life sized
statues that must have taken a considerable amount of time –
months, perhaps even years – to create. Within the confines of
the mine there is also much to be learned about the miners from
the machinery and tools that they used – Many of which are on
display and are centuries old. A catastrophic flood in 1992
dealt the last blow to commercial salt mining in the area and
now the mine functions purely as a tourist attraction. Brine is,
however, still extracted from the mine – and then evaporated to
produce some salt, but hardly on the ancient scale. If this was
not done, then the mines would soon become flooded once again.
**
**[]**
**
[]**
**Not all of the statues have a religious or symbolic imagery
attached to them.
The miners had a sense of humor, after all! Here can be seen
their own take on the legend of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
The intricately carved dwarves must have seemed to some of the
miners a kind of ironic depiction of their own work.
[]**
**The miners even threw in a dragon for good measure!
Certainly, they may have whistled while they did it but the
conditions in the salt mine were far from comfortable and the
hours were long – the fact that it was subterranean could hardly
have added to the excitement of going to work each morning.
[]**
**
[]**
**To cap it all there is even an underground lake, lit by
subdued electricity and candles. This is perhaps where the old
legends of lakes to the underworld and Catholic imagery of the
saints work together to best leave a lasting impression of the
mine. How different a few minutes reflection here must have been
to the noise and sweat of everyday working life in the mine.*
=
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