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Private, licenced & full insured taxi & minibus service to the Salt Mine Wieliczka. Book here for a personal door-to-door service for only 60 Euros for up to 6 people (excluding entrance charges).
- Private licenced insured service
- Door to door pickup/dropoff anywhere in Krakow
- Latest taxis & minivans (less than 1 year old)
- English speaking drivers
- Friendly courteous service
- Lowest rates without compromise
 Book your Salt Mine trip here for immediate confirmation - Salt Mine Wieliczka Tours
"The historic Salt Mine in Wieliczka is the only mining site in the world functioning continuously since the Middle Ages. Lying on nine levels, its original excavations (longitudinals, traverses, chambers, lakes, as well as minor and major shafts) stretch for the total of about 300 kilometres: reaching the depth of 327 metres they illustrate all the stages of mining technology development over time."
The quotation comes from the justification for entering the Wieliczka Salt Mine on UNESCO's First World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage, 8th September, 1978 together with 11 other sites from around the world.
For, indeed, reaching back to the Middle Ages, the history of Wieliczka is a reflection of mining technology progress, development of work organisation and management, origin of industry legislation, as well as a lesson in patriotism and the love of freedom.
The beginnings of “Wieliczka”, one of the world's most famous mines of the world, reach the Middle Ages, when the mine assumed the name of Magnum Sal (Great Salt.)
The oldest document shedding some light on the history of the mine is the privilege of Casimir I of 1044, referring to Wieliczka as "magnum sal alias Wieliczka."
The Salt Mine Wieliczka is the oldest salt enterprise on Polish land dating back to the Middle Ages. For centuries it was the source of the country’s wealth and the material foundation of its culture. Today it is the most popular Polish tourist attraction.
Several hundreds of years of rock salt exploitation have shaped the spatial arrangement of its excavated structure. Lying on nine levels, concealed under the town, the mine reaches down to the depth of 327 metres. Subterranean Wieliczka consists of nearly 300 kilometres of corridors and almost 3,000 chambers. The tourist route accessible to visitors includes a 3.5-kilometres section located from 64 to 135 metres below ground level.
 
Magnificent chapels, captivating underground lakes, original tools and equipment, traces of mining works allow us to understand the human struggle against the elements, their work, their passion and their beliefs. The Wieliczka miners have left behind many salt carvings and murals. After sightseeing, tourists can rest in the chamber complex 125 metres underground where they can find souvenir shops, a restaurant, and a post office.
Various types of social events are organised in the undergrounds of the Wieliczka Salt Mine such as conferences, banquets, weddings, the New Years Eve Ball, concerts, sport performances. Our guests are often accompanied by legendary characters of the mine: the Treasurer, Princess Kinga, the miner’s band plays concerts and exhibitions of salt carvings take place.
Staying underground is particularly beneficial for people with upper respiratory tract problems and allergies. These ailments can be treated at the Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre situated in the Lake Wessel Chamber.
In 1976 the Wieliczka Salt Mine was entered in the National Monuments Registry. Two years later, in 1978, the mine was inscribed in UNESCO's First World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage, and in 1994 it was acknowledged as the National History Monument by the president of Poland.
At present, the underground tourist route is visited annually by over 1,000,000 tourists.
| The Weimar Chamber |
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From the beginning of the route 1.250 km, floor lower two, depth 110 m
At the entrance to the chamber tourists are greeted by the monument of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, carved in 2001 by the miner sculptor Józef Piotr Kowalczyk. From historical documents it is known that Goethe accompanied the Prince of Weimar on his visit to the Wieliczka Mine in 1790.
The Weimar Chamber was created in the early twentieth century, after a block of green salt was excavated by the mechanical method. Salt was extracted in the typical way - from the top, and it was mined at lower and lower levels. Efficiency was achieved by blasting with gunpowder, and then cleaning side walls.
The outlet of a gallery, visible at the roof of the working, is a part of a ventilation draught. In the 1960s the bottom of the chamber was flooded with brine, and thus a lake was made. The chamber was furnished with a viewing platform, galleries and stairs.
At the brine lake, the figure of the Warden emerges from the dark. He is believed to be the good spirit of the mine. The sculpture, by the miner sculptor Stanisław Anioł, was the symbol of the Wieliczka mine at the World Exhibition EXPO-2000 in Hanover. Nearby was placed a cart with a block of rock-salt, which was 'carved' by the visitors to the Polish pavilion.
In the Weimar Chamber a nostalgic son et lumiere mini-show is presented, which takes the visitors back to the times when the chamber was worked.
The Wieliczka mine functions also as a sanatorium, for the micro-climate in the underground spaces is particularly beneficial in the treatment of upper respiratory disorders, asthma and allergy. In 1997, in the Teodor Wessel Chamber, on floor three (135 m underground) the Underground Rehabilitation and Medical Centre was opened. Owing to the active therapy in the Centre, the patients breathe in the air rich in sodium, calcium and magnesium chloride, and thus efficiently get rid of some disorders caused by civilisation. |
Book Salt Mine trip - http://www.hotelraider.com/krakow-recommended-sightseeing-tours/ |
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