FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 1 of 14
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS
From: John Rollings
From: In a [m a ilto :ina1lou@ cccinternet.net] Sent: W ednesday, Septem ber 14, 2011 9:26 PM To: H eidi Cooling; C a ro l H eid e ; g sp ringer; G ayle ; glenn hruska; Karen and Lee B o u m a ; Karen McMartin ; Ellen Mills; lula flem in g ; K ristie and D ave Kitto k ; John Rollin g s; W endy Jo La F a v o r; Shari Willia m s; Stefanie K e rste n ; Jan e T ra v e r; Lisa and T o n y ; T e ri G riffin Subject: F w d : Polish Salt Min e : AM AZING PHO TO S
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Chuck Giglio"
Salt Mine – An Astounding Subterranean Salt Cathedral Polish Salt Mines - Amazing Photos!
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 2 of 14
Image Credit Flickr user magro kr 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. http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011
Image Credit Flickr User magro_kr From the outside, Wieliczka Salt Mine doesn’t look extraordinary. It looks extremely well kept for a place that hasn’t mined 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. 1 lake.
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 4 of 14 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 3 of 14
posterity.
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn Image Credit Flickr User EnglishGirlAbroad
Image Credit Flickr User Zsoolt Situated in the Krakow area, Wieliczka is a small town of close Image Credit Flickr User bildungsroman to twenty thousand inhabitants. It was founded in the twelfth century by a It may feel like you are in the middle of a Jules Verne adventure local Duke to mine the rich deposits of salt that lie beneath. Until 1996 it as you descend in to the depths of the world. After a one hundred and fifty did just that but the generations of miners did more than just extract. They meter climb down wooden stairs the visitor to the salt mine will see some left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the amazing sites. About the most astounding in terms of its sheer size and shape of statues of mythic, historical and religious figures. They even audacity is the Chapel of Saint Kinga. The Polish people have for many created their own chapels in which to pray. Perhaps their most astonishing centuries been devout Catholics and this was more than just a long term legacy is the huge underground cathedral they left behind for posterity. hobby to relieve the boredom of being underground. This was an act of worship.
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 2 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 3 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 6 of 14
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 5 of 14
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 hobby to relieve the boredom of being underground. This was an act of in different shades of grey (something like you would expect granite to look worship. like).
Image Credit Flickr User Dimitry B
Image Credit Flickr User Steve_w
Image Credit Flickr User PeteReed Amazingly, even the chandeliers in the cathedral are made of FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 7 of 14 salt. It was not simply hewn from the ground and then thrown together; FW: Polishh owever,Salt Mine: the AMAZING process is rather PHOTO moreS painstaking for the lighting. After Page 6 of 14 Image Credit Flickr User King-of-herrings extraction the rock salt was first of all dissolved. It was then Still, that doesn’t stop well over one million visitors (mainly reconstituted with the impurities taken out so that it achieved a glass-like from Poland and its eastern European neighbors) from visiting the mine to past. finish. The chandeliers are what many visitors think the rest of the see, amongst other things, how salt was mined in the cavernous mine will be like as they have a picture in their minds of salt as past. 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 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 like). http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011
4 5
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn 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 Image Credit Flickr User Steve_w reason why visitors are restricted to certain areas only.
Image Credit Flickr User King-of-herrings Still, that doesn’t stop well over one million visitors (mainly from Poland and its eastern European neighbors) from visiting the mine to
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 7 of 14
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 8 of 14
see, amongst other things, how salt was mined in the past.
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn Image Credit Flickr User Wit For safety reasons less than one percent of the mine is open to The religious carvings are, in reality, what draw many to this visitors, but even that is still almost four kilometers in length – more mine – as much for their amazing verisimilitude as for their Christian than enough to weary the average tourist after an hour or two. The mine was aesthetics. The above shows Jesus appearing to the apostles after the closed for two reasons – the low price of salt on the world market made it crucifixion. He shows the doubter, Saint Thomas , the wounds on his too expensive to extract here. Also, the mine was slowly flooding – another wrists. reason why visitors are restricted to certain areas only.
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOSImage Credit Flickr User Zsoolt Page 9 of 14 Another remarkable carving, this time a take on The Last Supper. The work and patience that must have gone in to 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 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 fact, even during the mine’s 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. 6 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 7
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn
Image Credit Flickr User magro kr 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.
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 9 of 14 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 10 of 14
of their work going on general display? They came to be quite used to it, in fact, even during the mine’s busiest period in the nineteenth century. The It comes as little surprise to learn that the mine was placed on the cream of Europe ’s thinkers visited the site – you can still see many of original list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites back in their names in the old visitor’s books on display. 1978.
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn
Image Credit Flickr User magro_kr
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 10 of 14
Image Credit Flickr User magro kr 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 Image Credit Flickr User magro kr original list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites back in 1978. 1978. http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011
8 9
Image Credit Flickr User magro_kr
Image Credit Flickr User magro kr
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 11 of 14 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 12 of 14
Image Credit Flickr User teachandlearn 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 Image Credit Flickr User Just_tom 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.
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 13 of 14 Image Credit Flickr User Woodlet 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.
10 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 11
Image Credit Flickr User Kyle Horner 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.
Image Credit Flickr User waxorian
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 13 of 14
FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 14 of 14
intricately carved dwarves must have seemed to some of the miners a kind of ironic depiction of their own work.
Image Credit Flickr User Kyle Image Credit Flickr User il conte di luna Horner To cap it all there is even an underground lake, lit by subdued The miners even threw in a dragon for good measure! Certainly, electricity and candles. This is perhaps where the old legends of lakes to they may have whistled while they did it but the conditions in the salt mine the underworld and Catholic imagery of the saints work together to best were far from comfortable and the hours were long – the fact that it was leave a lasting impression of the mine. How different a few minutes subterranean could hardly have added to the excitement of going to work each reflection here must have been to the noise and sweat of everyday working morning. life in the mine.
Image Credit Flickr User waxorian
http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011
12 http://webmail.earthlink.net/wam/printable.jsp?msgid=4632&x=1626674824 12/27/2011 13