| We visited one of the most famous of Polish
treasures, Wieliczka — a historic salt mine in a village near Krakow.
The mine is about 700 years old.
We were then led to the first staircase that descended over 65 meters (figure about 3.25 feet per meter or about 65 X 3.25 or about 211feet) which we descended every step by foot. The staircase went round and round. By the time 'Omi and I got to the bottom she was dizzy from all the turns. Before the visit was over, we would have walked down over 135 meters of steps (135 X 3.25 or about 440 feet). What we actually saw, which took over 2 hours to walk, was only about 3% of the total workings. The tourist can visit 3 levels and there are 10 total. | |||||||||||||||||||
What impressed me so much was Kinga's Chapel which is a huge area carved out of rock salt 110 meters deep and features many sculptures by self taught miners. There were many other carved monuments throughout the mine dedicated to various heroes of Polish history throughout the mine. However, one of the most impressive series of carvings were in the walls surrounding the whole area of Kinga's Chapel, which highlighted the entire life of Christ. I was surprised of how life like a sculpture of John
Paul II was which also graces St. Kinga's Chapel. |
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