Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia

Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia
UNESCO world heritage
	St. Kinga Chapel in the Wieliczka Salt Mine
National territory:	Poland
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	(iv)
Surface:	1,104.947 ha
Buffer zone:	580.60 ha
Reference No .:	32nd
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
	History of enrollment
Enrollment:	1978 ( session 2 )
Extension:	2008, 2013
Red list :	1989-1998

The Royal salt mines of Wieliczka and Bochnia are one of the UNESCO -listed site of World Heritage in Poland . The World Heritage Site comprises the salt mines of Wieliczka and Bochnia and the salt Grafenschloss Wieliczka .

location

The salt mines are located at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains in the area of the cities of Wieliczka (German Groß Salze ) and Bochnia (German Salzberg ) in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship , a few kilometers southeast of Krakow .

geology

Geologically, the two mines are located in the southern edge of the northern foreland basin of the Polish Carpathians. The rock salt digested there is part of a sequence of layers that was deposited in this foreland basin during the Middle Miocene ( Badenian ), during the late phase of the formation of the Carpathian Mountains (see → Paratethys ). This sequence is divided from the lying to the hanging wall into Skawina layers, Wieliczka layers and Chodenice layers . The rock salt is contained in the chloridic facies of the Wieliczka strata, which are only formed in Upper Silesia and locally on the southern edge of the foreland basin, while the sulphatic facies are predominant in the rest of the basin . Skawina and Chodenice layers comprise marly clay and siltstones or marly sandy mudstones, in which dolomite stone layers are inserted. Within the chloridic facies of the Wieliczka strata, four to five evaporation cycles can be distinguished, with partly anhydritic and / or silty clay stones at the base and rock salt in the uppermost part. Potash salts are not developed in the Polish part of the Carpathian Foreland Basin. The Middle Miocene succession was recorded on the southern edge of the basin in the late Miocene by the tectonic movements that accompanied the formation of the Carpathian Mountains, and both folded and pushed north onto the unfolded ( autochthonous ) part of the foreland basin .

Very tightly folded layers of salt (right) in the Bochina mine

The Bochnia mine is located in an almost upright anticline structure , which is made up of Cretaceous - palaeogeneous flysch in the core, i.e. in the lying part of the Skawina layers . The salt layers in Bochnia show a tight fold, whereby the folds are partly severely sheared. The most productive section of the deposit extends to a depth of 200 to 450 m or between the first and the tenth level of the mine.

In the area of the Wieliczka mine, the geological structure is significantly different. There, a brecciated unit with up to 150 m large blocks of coarse-grained rock salt (“green salt”) embedded in “salt clay” (Polish : zuber ) in the upper part of the deposit is distinguished from a stratified unit in the lower part. The "megabreccia" is interpreted by some authors as the result of large landslides on a tectonically active basin edge ( olisthostrome ). The stratified unit is internally characterized by intense folding and thrusts. To the south, the deposit interlocks tectonically with Carpathian flysch. The deposit, which extends to a depth of 425 m, is exposed to nine levels from 64 to 327 m.

history

Salt production in the Neolithic

Archaeological evidence shows that in the Wieliczka region from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age and later in the 1st century BC. Chr. Salt by boiling of brine obtained was passed through the springs to the surface.

Little is known about the history of salt mining in the first millennium, but the local population seems to have continued the boiling technique. The brine springs began to dry up around 1100, and when it was discovered in the 13th century that the salt originated from underground deposits, the first attempts to extract the rock salt directly were made.

The difficulty of digging watertight shafts and the desire to control salt production led to the intervention of the feudal lords and later the Grand Duke of Poland, Bolesław V. The latter ordered the Cistercians to solve the technical problems and to operate the ducal mines founded in 1249 . The ruler was granted the exclusive right to extract the salt.

Map of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, 1645

Under the care of the dukes and later the kings of Poland, mining was intensified at the end of the 14th century under the name of Cracow Saltworks . Wieliczka Castle was expanded to become the administrative center and to market the salt. The director was given a high rank in the hierarchy of royal power.

Originally the mines were operated entirely by hand. Animals have been used for specific tasks since the 15th century, for example in horse mills for vertical lifting. Many other mechanisms have been used to bring the rock salt, cut into large cylindrical blocks, to the surface.

The two locations in Bochnia and Wieliczka were of similar size until around 1500, after which Wieliczka overtook Bochnia. The heyday of the Kraków salt pans lasted until the middle of the 17th century, when 2,000 miners extracted around 30,000 tons of salt a year. The salt was sold all over Poland, Silesia , Bohemia , Moravia and Hungary . At that time the salt pans were the largest company in Poland and one of the largest in Europe.

Kaiser Franz Chamber in the Wieliczka Mine, 1886

In 1772 the region came under Austrian rule. The uniform management of the two locations was retained, the salt pans formed a state enterprise until 1867. After 1867 the two mines were managed independently, but under the control of the same regional authority. The economic importance of the mines was very great for Austria. An underground tourist route was established at the beginning of the 19th century . The emperors of Austria and Russia visited the mines, and salt baths were also set up in Wieliczka. Driven by the innovations of the industrial revolution and the development of mining technology, production increased and by 1900 was over 140,000 tons per year.

In the course of the 20th century, the economic conditions changed due to competition for sea salt , which could easily be imported by ship and rail. The rock salt had to be mined at greater depths and costs soared. After the Second World War , mines closed in large parts of Europe, and in 1964 the Wieliczka site was also closed, and a little later the Bochnia site.

In 1971 the underground facilities in Wieliczka were added to the Polish list of national heritage, followed by Bochnia in 1981. Wieliczka and Bochnia were tourist locations both before and after the mining operations closed. In the 1970s, around 700,000 people visited the mines each year; today there are around a million.

description

The rock salt mines Wieliczka and Bochnia have been in operation since the 13th century and are the oldest of their kind in Europe. On several soles , hundreds of kilometers long, extending studs with numerous stopes . The chambers were converted into underground chapels , storage rooms and various other rooms in which altars and statues were formed from the rock salt . Above ground, the complex is completed by the Salzgrafenschloss, from which the mines were managed.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Wieliczka Salt Mine, headframe of the Daniłowicz Shaft

Scene made from salt statues: A miner shows Kinga of Poland the salt stone with her enclosed ring.

Rock salt has been mined in the Wieliczka Salt Mine since the end of the 13th century. The total length of the tunnels, in which there are wells , labyrinth-like corridors, larger chambers and chapels cut from salt with altars , pulpits and statues , is about 300 kilometers and connects more than 2000 extraction chambers on nine levels. The mine extends for a length of 5 km to the east and west and 1 km to the north and south and reaches a maximum depth of 327 m below the surface. Over the centuries the miners have developed a tradition of carving sculptures from the rock salt deposits. As a result, the mine contains complete underground churches, altars, bas-reliefs, and dozens of life-size statues. It also houses an underground museum and has a number of special chambers, such as a sanatorium for people with respiratory diseases . The largest of the chapels, St Kinga Chapel, is 101 m below the surface; it is over 50 m long, 15 m wide and 12 m high. The large underground lake has been accessible to visitors since the 15th century.

Bochnia Salt Mine

Headframe of the Bochnia salt mine

Kinga Chapel in the Bochnia Salt Mine

The Bochnia Salt Mine is located around twenty kilometers east of the Wieliczka mines. As with Wieliczka, the Bochnia mines consist of an underground complex of tunnels, chambers and shafts. The depth of the floors ranges from 70 m (level 1) to 261 m (level 8). The tunnel system has a length of 3.6 km and a width of 700 m and is oriented along an east-west axis.

The spatial structure of the individual levels is characteristic of mining in the 18th and 19th centuries. The levels include a central tunnel along the salt seam and side tunnels at a distance of approx. 40 m. The most sensitive tunnels were protected by carpentry . The chambers, some of which are impressive in size, are shaped like pointed arches for stability . Some of them have been converted into underground chapels, the most important being the Passion, Kinga and Joseph chapels. Others were made into stables , shops, workshops, powder stores and the like, or into passages between the different levels.

Since the dismantling stopped in 1964, the system has only been accessible through two shafts. The Sutoris shaft in the east dates from the 13th century. It was extended to level 8 and later to level 9 in the 1830s. The Campi shaft in the center of the facility from the 16th century reached a depth of 300 m at the beginning and was expanded to a depth of 408 m in the 19th century. The Trinitatis shaft from the early 20th century is located on the western edge of the facility.

The mine has been open to visitors since the 19th century, and the route now runs two kilometers through the tunnels between levels 3 and 6.

Much evidence of mining technology has been preserved in the underground tunnels: markings on the rocky salt walls, tools, wagons, rails, ramps and other things.

Wieliczka Salt Count Castle

Salt Count's Castle in Wieliczka

The Salzgrafenschloss Wieliczka is located on a hill in the northwest of the city of the same name, above the tunnel field. The fortified structure was built at the same time as the salt was extracted in the Middle Ages. It was used for the administration of the mining industry as well as for the packaging and storage of the salt. Some structural elements are only remnants today, while others have been rebuilt and expanded over time, especially after bombing during World War II. The complex includes the following buildings:

the main building was built in the 13th / 14th Century and is the oldest part of the fortified complex. It has an upper floor, was rebuilt in the 17th century and restored in the 20th century
the northern saltworks house is built into the defensive walls. It is a large, one-story building, originally from the 14th and 15th centuries, and has been renovated and restored several times
the south building from the 19th century is made of brick
archaeological traces of an older shaft from the 13th century, which is now filled
the square tower in the northwest is integrated into the defensive wall and dates from the 14th century
the saline canteen dates back to the 15th century

Registration as a world heritage site

In 1978 the Wieliczka Salt Mine was entered on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites together with the Old Town of Krakow as the first World Heritage Site in Poland by a resolution of the second session of the World Heritage Committee. In 2013, the Bochnia salt mine and the Wieliczka Salt Count Castle were added. The world heritage site comprises a core area of 1105 hectares and a buffer area of 581 hectares.

The reason for the entry states, among other things:

The Wieliczka and Bochnia Salt Mines are located on the same geological rock salt deposit in southern Poland. They were close together and operated in parallel and continuously from the 13th to the end of the 20th century, and form one of the earliest and most important European industrial companies.

The entry was made on the basis of criterion (iv).

(iv): The Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia illustrate the historical stages of development of mining technology from the 13th to the 20th century. The tunnels, the underground chambers, the arrangement and decoration of which reflect the social and religious traditions of the miners, the tools and machines, and the saline castle that managed the operation, provide excellent evidence of the socio-technical system associated with the underground mining of rock salt was.

Web links

Commons : Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Aleksander Garlicki: Salt Mines at Bochnia and Wieliczka. Przegląd Geologiczny. Vol. 56, No. 8/1, 2008, pp. 663–669 ( PDF 720 kB)

↑ ^a ^b ^c Krzysztof Bukowski: Salt sources and salt springs in the Carpathian zone. Pp. 27-34 in: Anthony Harding, Valerii Kavruk (Ed.): Explorations in Salt Archeology in the Carpathian Zone. Archaeolingua, Budapest 2013, ISBN 978-963-9911-44-4 ( ResearchGate )

^ ^A ^b ^c Zofia Alexandrowicz, Jan Urban, Krzysztof Miśkiewicz: Geological values of selected Polish properties of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Geoheritage. Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009, pp. 43–54, doi: 10.1007 / s12371-009-0004-y (alternative full text access : ResearchGate )

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ICOMOS: Advisory Body Evaluation. Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (Poland), No 32ter. 2013, pp. 241-253 , accessed on March 31, 2019 (English).

↑ Decision - 2 COM VIII.38. UNESCO World Heritage Center, 1978, accessed March 24, 2019 .

↑ Decision: 37 COM 8B.41, Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (Poland). 2013, accessed on March 24, 2019 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c Entry on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center ( English and French ).

49.983863888889 20.059652777778Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 1.9 ″ N , 20 ° 3 ′ 34.8 ″ E

[garlicki-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Aleksander Garlicki: Salt Mines at Bochnia and Wieliczka. Przegląd Geologiczny. Vol. 56, No. 8/1, 2008, pp. 663–669 ( PDF 720 kB)

[bukowski-2] Krzysztof Bukowski: Salt sources and salt springs in the Carpathian zone. Pp. 27-34 in: Anthony Harding, Valerii Kavruk (Ed.): Explorations in Salt Archeology in the Carpathian Zone. Archaeolingua, Budapest 2013, ISBN 978-963-9911-44-4 ( ResearchGate )