Wieliczka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wieliczka | |
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| (Coat of arms) | |
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| Country | Poland |
| Voivodeship | Lesser Poland |
| Municipal government | Rada Miejska w Wieliczce |
| Mayor | Artur Kozioł |
| Area | 13,4 km² |
| Population - city - urban - density |
18 849 - 1357/km² |
| Founded | - |
| City rights | - |
| Latitude Longitude |
49°59' N 20°03' E |
| Area code | +48 12 |
| Car plates | KWI |
| Twin towns | - |
| Municipal Website | |
Wieliczka is a town (2006 population: 18,849) in southern Poland in the Kraków metropolitan area, and situated (since 1999) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, previously (1975-1998) in Kraków Voivodeship. The town was founded in 1290 by Duke Premislas II of Poland.
Located under the town of Wieliczka is one of the world's oldest operating salt mines (the oldest is at Bochnia, Poland, 20 kilometers from Wieliczka), which has been worked since prehistoric times.
The mine is also notable for a long tradition of tourism: the famous, breath-taking site has been visited over the centuries by Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Dmitri Mendeleev, Bolesław Prus, Ignacy Paderewski, Robert Baden-Powell, Jacob Bronowski (who filmed segments of The Ascent of Man in the mine), Karol Wojtyła (the later Pope John Paul II), former U.S. President Bill Clinton, crowned heads, as well as hosts of ordinary people.
During World War II, the salt mine was used by the occupying Germans as housing for war-related production plants.
The awe-inspiring, ancient labyrinthine salt mine helped inspire the Labyrinth scenes in Bolesław Prus' 1895 historical novel, Pharaoh.
In 1978 the Wieliczka salt mine was entered into the original UNESCO roster of World Heritage Sites.
The salt mine forms an "underground town" with churches, lakes and passages.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Exhibition of Technique in Wieliczka
- Welcome to The Salt of The Earth
- lang_eng/mine.htm/ Digging for salt
- lang_eng/gallery1.htm/ Photo gallery
- Wieliczka County page
- Wieliczka city (community) page
- Salt Mine
- Wieliczka salt mine
- Video tour of mine
- Wieliczka Salt Mine
- Ancient salt-works
- Cracow Salt-Works Museum in Wieliczka
- Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow in Poland
[edit] Photos
 Bottom of Kunegunda's Shaft |
 Da Vinci's The Last Supper, sculpted into the rock salt. |
