FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Page 1 of 14 FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS From: John Rollings <[email protected]> To: 'Arthur Sidner' Subject: FW: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS Date: Dec 26, 2011 8:00 AM Attachments: ATT00055.jpg ATT00040.jpg ATT00061.jpg ATT00004.jpg ATT00016.jpg ATT00058.jpg ATT00064.jpg ATT00010.jpg ATT00046.jpg ATT00067.jpg ATT00052.jpg ATT00022.jpg ATT00013.jpg ATT00028.jpg ATT00037.jpg ATT00043.jpg ATT00070.jpg ATT00019.jpg ATT00007.jpg ATT00025.jpg ATT00049.jpg ATT00031.jpg ATT00034.jpg 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" <[email protected]> Date: September 13, 2011 9:05:02 PM CDT To: "Chuck Giglio" <[email protected]> Subject: Polish Salt Mine: AMAZING PHOTOS 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.