Bochnia Salt Mine, Bochnia, Poland

The Bochnia Salt Mine is one of the oldest salt mines in the world and the oldest one in Poland. The mine was established between the 12th and 13th centuries after salt was first discovered in Bochnia, and became part of the Royal mining company żupy krakowskie (Kraków salt works).

The mine was closed some time after World War I. In 1981 it was declared a heritage monument. The site is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments, as designated October 6, 2000, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

The mine shafts measure 4.5 kilometres in length at about 330–468 metres in depth below the surface, at 16 different levels. The August Passage is the main communication and transportation route in the mine. It runs from the east to the west of mine, connecting in a straight line the bottom ends of the Campi and Sutoris shafts. It is situated at a depth of 176m - from the top of the Sutoris shaft and the depth of 212m counting from the top of the Campi shaft. The August Passage was initially called the Long Stove. Its first part, extending between the Rabsztyn Chute and a Campi Shaft was built in the years 1723-1743, in accordance with a design by Jan Gottfried borlach. His great achievements was to regulate routes in the mine by ensuring their straightening and leveling. As a result of this, over the next decades, the August Passage was able to reach a length of nearly 3-km. Excavated chambers, shafts and passages form an underground town, which is now open to sightseers. The largest of the preserved chambers has been converted into a sanatorium.

The Ważyn Chamber was named after the name of the administrator Andrzej Ważyński. The deepness of this chamber, the biggest in Bochnia Salt Mine, is 248m, its length - 255m, its maximum width 14,4m and maximum height 7,2m. The chamber uses no supporting pillars. Salt from Ważyn chamber was extracted from 1697 until the 1950s.

In 2013 the mine was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as an extension of the Wieliczka Salt Mine inscription of 1978.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Mairita Švirksta (9 months ago)
We loved the old elevator. The excursion was quite impressive even though it was in Polish. If you understand Russian, you can understand some of it. Great animated video exposition. Be ready for walking quite a lot.

Wiktoria Ogryzek (13 months ago)
The experience of visiting this salt mine was truly worth it! We had an excellent guide with a great sense of humour. She not only told us about the different landmarks/attractions we walked past, but was also very eager to answer questions and give us some fun facts about the mine. More about the visit itself : You go down around 200 meters under the ground with a lift, and then the length of the tour is about 5km. There are not as many stairs as we thought there would be, but still. We particularly enjoyed the church (pic below), and the animated characters (miners, owners of the mine or merchants) telling their stories from the walls were pretty great too, especially for the kids. At the beginning you take a little train for like 5 minutes, and then at the end of the visit there's also a 5min boat ride. The visit lasts a bit less than 4 hours, but there's a 30min break to have some coffee or food (which was not overpriced!) before going back up. If you don't speak Polish, booking an English speaking guide is probably a must.

Pankaj Kumar (2 years ago)
It was not big as Wieliczka, but good enough.There are not many attractions to see and most of the time we were walking and listening to guide's commentary in Polish. Guide was good and had good sense of humor. Train ride, underground-restaurant and sports facilities were highlights. Commuting from Bochnia was poor. Hardly any taxi at railway ? and was lucky to get one. During return no ? available, so you have to call a Taxi and they charge return fare. Walking is 1.8 kms away. Outside restaurant is good. Kids have playground. For non-Polish people, it is not recommended unless you book a English guide before coming.

Rado Pavelko (2 years ago)
Very nice place. Great 3 hours tour. Good for kids from 4 year old.

Ilya Skoryak (2 years ago)
Definetely recomend this salt mine for visiting! In tour are weaved multimedia installations, when founders of the salt mine (King Kazimierz, Italian merchants) are telling their stories from screen. During 4 hours trip we have passed all main attractions, and took the underground rook trip. There're underground concert halls, sleeping rooms, gyms. Very appealing trip!

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