Picketts in Poland: Kraków with Melissa…Day 3

Day 3 in Kraków, Poland

Wieliczka Salt Mines

Our train ride back to Warsaw wasn't until late Saturday afternoon, so Melissa and I went over to the ancient Wieliczka Salt Mines early Saturday. Lucky for us, we found a tour that would pick us up at our hotel…so convenient!

We traveled about 35 minutes from Kraków and came to the small city of Wieliczka…here we saw one of the oldest salt mines in Europe.

The mines were built over 700 years ago and only stopped producing table salt 10-12 years ago. Today it is mostly open for tourism…but people do visit the mines for medical reasons….breathing the salty air has proven to be quite healthy...though a prescription is needed.

These white clusters growing from the ceiling look a lot like cauliflower. We saw this type of salt growing in numerous places throughout the mine. If one were to touch it though...it would crumble.

Though I had been to the salt mines with Mark on our first visit to Kraków, I found there was still much to see and learn on my second visit with Melissa. We were told we could touch the walls…and even take a lick of salt….if we wanted to.

To the men that worked here this was more than just a place to mine salt….the miners also carved unique and beautiful statues, displays, and religious scenes in the salt. Even more, there are three chapels and even a cathedral carved out of the salt in these mines!

The unique salt statues are quite impressive.
The statue above is the scientist Copernicus, one of Poland's favorite sons.

This statue was built in a very old chamber….but the statue was created only 25-30 years ago.

I thought the salt carvings would look more crystal-like and sparkle…but the salt in its natural state has more grey-white tones and looked to me more like granite.

A bust of a Polish King

One of my favorite salt creations….the Hungarian Princess who was to marry the King of Poland…

Here is one story about these statues.…

"The Hungarian princess Kinga was about to be married to the King of Kraków. Since salt was scarce in Poland, Princess Kinga asked her father for a salt mine as a gift for her betrothed. After her father provided the mine, she threw her ring into it before leaving for Poland. On arriving there, she asked the people to dig a deep pit. On digging, the people found salt, and wrapped around a salt crystal was the princess's ring."

The largest and most impressive room is the Chapel of St. Kinga.
Though called a Chapel, this is the room known as the cathedral.

Not only is this room impressive in size, but there are numerous religious scenes carved into the walls. Even the chandeliers are made of salt!

A depiction of the Last Supper

Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethleham

A Nativity scene

Weddings can even be held in the chapel. In fact there was going to be a wedding that very day…so we could not explore all of the areas in the chapel because they were decorating for the event while we were there.

Looking up at the support structure in the chapel….

….one is impressed with the cavernous space dug out of the salt.

On this visit with Melissa, we also went into the museum and saw a model of the nine levels of the mine...

The area in red below shows where tourists go for the 2-1/2 hour tour. We were quite impressed with the mine's massive size….knowing that we were only traveling through a very small part of it.

Large salt crystals….

….salt crystals growing around old tools, ladders and equipment.

One of the last salt creations we saw was a Nativity. How fitting during this Christmas season. Melissa and I thoroughly enjoyed touring these beautiful mines….but we were quite ready to head up to ground level again.

Upon returning to Kraków, Melissa and I went to the market square and looked for another church…The Church of St. Barbara. Melissa had seen in our book about Kraków….a church that had a "pieta" on display.

Melissa looks like she is doing a "happy dance" once we found this church…it was right next door to the huge St. Mary's Church!

Once inside we started looking for the "pieta", which is a statue of Mary holding and mourning over the body of her son Jesus after his crucifixion.

Surprisingly it took us a while to find the statue, partly because it was so small….only about 2 ft by 2 ft. In one of her college courses, Melissa had seen pictures of one of the most famous pietas, a life-sized depiction by Michelangelo….and we were expecting it to be of that size.