Unit 9. Wieliczka Salt Mine. (7 Form)

Unit 9. Wieliczka Salt Mine.      

 

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is situated near Cracow in southern Poland. It is a popular sight with visitors, who are taken down into a hidden world of natural and man-made wonders.

     According to a legend, a princess called the Blessed Kinga, threw her ring into a salt mine in Hungary and later her ring was found in the first lump of salt, taken out of a well at Wieliczka in Poland. The fact is that for over 7 centuries salt has been mined from the rock below the town of Welieczka. It used to be dug by hand and carried up to the surface by the miners. Later horses were used to do the task. The work was dangerous and many miners were killed or injured. The constant danger made  the miners deeply religious. So, many chapels were constructed underground where church services were held. After one chapel was destroyed by fire because of the wooden statues in the mine, the miners began to carve sculptures from rock salt.

     Nowadays visitors are shown how salt was mined long ago. They can see the enormous chambers which have been dug out of the solid rock. There are many pretty green lakes, chapels with beautiful carvings, tunnels and underground caves with huge salt crystals in strange shapes.

A special attraction is the Chapel of Blessed Kinga in a chamber 100 metres underground.