The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines. Throughout its history, the royal salt mine was operated by the Zupy Krakowskie (Krakow Salt Mines) company. It reaches a depth of 327 meters and has over 300 km of galleries. Although the touring route has 3.5 km representing only 1% of the mine’s total length, it includes corridors, chapels, historic statues and mythical figures (such as Nicolaus Copernicus and Goethe) carved out of rock salt by miners and contemporary artists. The main attraction of the Wieliczka Salt Mine is a large cathedral, also known as “the Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland”, with walls carved to replicate chapels from the earlier centuries, amazing chandeliers made from rock salt which have a glass-like appearance, religious statues and important moments for Christianity. In 1978, was placed on UNESCO World Heritage Site.
