The Wieliczka salt mine in Poland is unbelievably beautiful, featuring underground lakes, chapels, and a slew of chandeliers.
The place is called the Wieliczka salt mine and is located in southern Poland.
The mine has been around for over 700-years!
From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced there from the upwelling brine.
The salt mine was excavated from the 13th century and it produced table salt continuously until 2007 as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines.
However, due to falling salt prices and mine flooding, commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish historic monument and it brings in hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
The salt mine, which reaches -1072 ft at its deepest point, features many amazing aspects.
Including salt water lakes!
The mine’s proximity to underground saltwater must be constantly managed.
The water suddenly gushed in at the lowest levels at 100 gallons a minute and they continued for around 8 months, completely filling the lowest levels 1,079 feet down.
They include the altars and the statues of saints that were carved by the sculptor miners.
The amazing chandeliers also contain crystal salt—the purest type of salt.
You can even get married in the mine, if you are lucky!
Only 2 percent of it is available to tourists. Meanwhile, the salt mine corridors form an actual labyrinth that stretches up to a staggering 498 ft in length.
There are 9 levels in total and the lowest one is located at 1072 ft below ground.
So the next time you are looking for a cool place to travel too, you are going to want to consider the Wieliczka salt mine.
You can check out all the cool pictures of the mine on the official Wieliczka salt mine Instagram page here!