Sightseeing Underground

Ever since I had the idea that I wanted to travel to Poland, a "must see" on my list was the Wieliczka Salt Mine.  Some people might think that is a strange "must see" but maybe that was why it was on my list!  Anyway, this is not an ordinary salt mine.  It began about 700 years ago and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Salt was a very valuable commodity for much of that time.  What makes the mine even more special is that the miners carved beautiful works of art in the mine.  However, let's start with a view of the outside of the builing.  The building includes an elevator.  When you tour the mine, you are about 440 feet underground.

Here is one of the beautiful salt statues.  All the works of art were carved by the miners who worked there, not by trained sculptors.

There are several of these beautiful salt crystal chandeliers.

Pope John Paul II visited Wieliczka several times and there is a chapel to reflect his visits.  Here is a "stained glass" window in the chapel and you can see how the walls are carved from the salt.

Another underground experience was the cellar tour in Sandomierz.  This leads through about 30 cellars that were constructed below houses in the 15th and 16th century, primarily used for storage.  We heard about Sandomierz being an important city for trade as early as the 11th century, ranked in importance with Krakow and Wroclaw  The cellars were unused and forgotten about for a long time until they began to cause structural problems.  In 1964-77, the city brought in experts to stabilize the area and prevent the collapse of the buildings.  Many of the cellars were filled in and others were reinforced and linked together so vistors could hear about the history behind these cellars.  Here you can see the work involved in creating the arches in the cellars.

A legend about Sandomierz tells about an invasion by the Tatars and how a young woman sacrificed herself to save the town by leading the warriors into an underground tunnel.  The people sealed the tunnel behind her trapping her and the invading armies.  This mural depicts that legend.