Back to the salt mine . . .

KURIOSITAS IS A SITE FOR THE CURIOUS, and it has a display of pictures of the Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland, and as the page proclaims – An Astounding Subterranean Salt Cathedral. No shit, Sherlock.

Situated in the Krakow area, Wieliczka is a small town of close to twenty thousand inhabitants. It was founded in the twelfth century by a local Duke to mine the rich deposits of salt that lie beneath. Until 1996 it did just that but the generations of miners did more than just extract. They left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the shape of statues of mythic, historical and religious figures. They even created their own chapels in which to pray. Perhaps their most astonishing legacy is the huge underground cathedral they left behind for posterity.

These and more were taken by magro_kr who has a fine Flickr photo stream.