The Kłodawa Salt Mine (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Kopalnia Soli Kłodawa'', ''KSK'') is the biggest operating salt mine in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is located in

Kłodawa Kłodawa is a town in the Koło County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship in central Poland with 6,699 inhabitants (2014). Kłodawa lies on the Rgilewka (a tributary of the Warta River). The town contains the Kłodawa Salt Mine, the largest opera ...

Koło County __NOTOC__ Koło County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms in 1998. ...

Greater Poland Voivodship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic region, except for some we ...

History

In 1939 Polish professor Edward Walery Janczewski discovered geological layer of salt between

Izbica Kujawska Izbica Kujawska is a town in central Poland with 2,808 inhabitants (2004). It is situated in the Włocławek County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the historic region of Kuyavia. History Izbica was a private town, administratively loc ...

and Solca Wielka. It was 63 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide. First drillings were done during

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and it was realized that Kłodawa is the best place to build a salt mine; it was also said that Izbica Kujawska had a good salt supply, but much smaller than Kłodawa. The first two mineshafts (called ''Michał'' and ''Barbara'', – named after the first director of the mine and

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the origin ...

), were built from 1950 to 1954. Between 1955-1958, geologist Jadwiga Orska worked on mapping the petrographic composition of the documented salts. Werner Z., 2004, Jadwiga Orska 1923-2004, Przegl. Geol. V. 52, nr 11, s. 1032, Warszawa. The salt has been drilled since 1956. Until 1966 horses were the main way to drill the salt, in this year the electronic traction drive was built. The third mineshaft, located about 4 kilometres from Michał and Barbara, is named ''Chrobry'' (after first Polish king,

Bolesław I Chrobry Bolesław or Boleslav may refer to: People * Bolesław (given name) (also ''Boleslav'' or ''Boleslaus''), including a list of people with this name Geography * Bolesław, Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland * Bolesław, Olkusz Coun ...

). There is an underground touristic route in the mine, opened for visitors. It is scheduled to open the first underground sanatorium in Poland in Kłodawa Salt Mine. On September 7, 2012 the salt mine suffered from a fire.

Salt

There are different types of salt drilling in Kłodawa Salt Mine. All of them come from

Zechstein The Zechstein ( German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Late Permian ( Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland. T ...

. The salt in Kłodawa is the only salt in Poland which is colourful (pink and blue) and colourful elements in Wieliczka Salt Mine come from Kłodawa Salt Mine.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klodawa Salt Mine Salt mines in Poland Underground mines in Poland Tourist attractions in Greater Poland Voivodeship Koło County Buildings and structures in Greater Poland Voivodeship

History

Salt

See also

References

External links