PL PRESENTATION/CATEGORY 7
National Industries
Wieliczka
By Paweł W.
There is a story about princess visiting Poland.
It all started with her arrival to this place.
Legend: Princess name was Kinga. She was a very important person not only for Poland. When she was visiting THIS place it was meant only for visit but it became much more important than everybody thought. It started when she threw her ring into one of the deserted shafts which made the beginning for THIS place.
Can you guess where are you now?
Let me give you a tip: This place was transporting one of the main goods to whole country.
Still not idea what it can be? Look at this people residing there for a very long time.
Ok here is last tip then: It was connected with underground activities.
If you still don’t know what it is I will tell you: Salt Mine!!! It was very important for country because of the very high salt prices (you could buy small village with just lumps of salt).
Salt mine in Wieliczka: The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area. The mine continuously produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007 as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. It is believed to be the world's 14th-oldest company still in operation. The mine's attractions for tourists include dozens of statues and an entire chapel that has been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. Mine main purpose is to give a lot of fun to other people not only those from country. It has even prepared simulations for interested ones to show how does it look when somebody must work underground for such a long time. Tourist meaning: The Wieliczka salt mine reaches a depth of 327 meters and is over 300 km long. It features a 3.5-km touring route for visitors (less than 1% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes historic statues and mythical figures. The oldest sculptures were carved out of rock salt by miners; more recent figures have been fashioned by contemporary artists. Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance. The rock salt is naturally grey in various shades, so that the carvings resemble unpolished granite rather than the white or crystalline look that many visitors expect. Interesting thing: In this mine there wasn’t only salt that we could find there or simulations about working employers but also there was a very beautiful lake full of salt that looked almost like from some kind of fairy tail. Opinion: Firstly I want to say why i chose this mine as an industry place even when it’s not exactly industry we think about. I thought it would be very good to show industry in some other way because it was after all one of the most important place in my country.
So in conclusion I think it is very interestind place for now because of it’s originality. I like part about EVERYTHING made of salt because I have never seen anything like that. I was also surprised about how long it was working and how effective this work was.