A UNESCO World Heritage site in Poland is being used to help people recover from COVID-19, with patients going deep underground in the Wieliczka salt mine to a therapeutic centre dealing with respiratory illness.
Famous for its ornate underground chapels carved from salt, the Wieliczka mine, located just outside the southern city of Krakow, is one of Poland’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing around 1.8 million visitors in 2019.
But doctors say the micro-climate in the mine, which stretches as far as 327 metres underground, also helps people with pulmunory problems.
Magdalena Kostrzon, a doctor working at the mine, told Reuters that patients with respiratory illnesses have been coming there since the 19th century.
“The underground micro-climate is, above all, characterised by exceptional air purity,” she said.
“The air reaches here through a whole series of salt corridors… Thanks to this, it is cleaned of pollutants that are on the surface.”
For Jozef Biros, 58, who caught COVID-19 in November, the benefits from his stay in the mine are clear.
“Two weeks have passed and I will tell you that I am feeling better and better, both with breathing and physically,” he said.
“Even a simple thing like tying your shoes — I used to bend down and feel I have no air, but now I can tie my shoes no problem.”
This mine entered in 1978 on the First UNESCO World Heritage List. Over more than 700 years, 26 shafts were struck in Wieliczka and 9 million m³ of post-excavation voids were drilled. Deep underground, there is a salt labyrinth! If you don’t know the way, you could easily get lost forever… The underground is measured and described by creating underground maps so you can always find the way in this endless maze of drifts, crosscuts and ramps. The mine is said to be so huge that you can visit only 2% of the salt labyrinth.
The history of Wieliczka dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was proudly named the Magnum Sal – the Great Salt. In the 13th century it was known as the largest source of salt in Poland, and over the years it became crucial for the country’s economy.
The picturesque underground landscapes owe their beauty to nature, which sculpted the rocks in unusual, varied and complicated forms. The Wieliczka Salt Mine has a unique geological structure, not found anywhere else in the world. The breath-taking Crystal Grottoes are a priceless natural object of the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine deposit, unique on a global scale. It is at the same time a fairy tale and extremely fragile place.
Deep underground, you can admire the unusual salt landscapes, the impressive size of the workings, salt rocks of various kinds, salt lakes and works of art created by sculptor miners…. There are more than 2,000 chambers in the Mine, but you won’t find two identical ones!
Every day, several hundred miners work hard underground and on the surface to ensure that the huge salt labyrinth survives the centuries to come and continues to enthrall visitors from all over the world. New attractions for visitors are also constantly being created.