Poland’s subterranean topography is a treasure trove
of cities made of salt, mysterious tunnels built by the Nazis, and even a
patriotic spider-infested cave!
By Raul Dias
The sheer audacity and stupidity of the ‘journey’ I
had just undertaken, was never more apparent to me than when the ancient,
miner’s lift gave a terrifying little lurch and then proceeded to hurtle at top
speed up to the surface of the mine, 327m above where I had spent the good part
of four hours burrowing my way through the serpentine passageways of the
Wieliczka Salt Mine in Wieliczka, southern Poland. It was barely four days since
the November 29, 2016 tragedy that took the lives of eight miners, when a
magnitude 3.4 earthquake caused rockfalls hundreds of metres below the surface
at Europe’s largest copper mine—Rudna—near the town of Polkowice in the western
part of the country.
Realising that adrenaline can be alarmingly addictive, I found myself craving some more subterranean action in the next few days I travelled the length and breadth of the eastern European nation. And thanks to my trusted little guidebook, I didn’t have to look too hard. Because like the old Polish saying goes, “what is most interesting is usually well and truly hidden!”
Here are a few such underground sites in Poland that can be visited all year round:
Realising that adrenaline can be alarmingly addictive, I found myself craving some more subterranean action in the next few days I travelled the length and breadth of the eastern European nation. And thanks to my trusted little guidebook, I didn’t have to look too hard. Because like the old Polish saying goes, “what is most interesting is usually well and truly hidden!”
Here are a few such underground sites in Poland that can be visited all year round:
Miedzyrzecz Fortified Region
Stretching a lengthy 80km between Gorzow Wielkopolski and Zielona Gora Dodge in Poland’s western Lubuskie region, the Miedzyrzecz Fortified Region is a warren of WWII fortifications, consisting of tunnels, railway stations and halls built tens of metres underground that visitors can take a tour of. Built over four years between 1934 and 1938 on the orders Adolf Hitler, the bunkers here are reinforced with solid steel walls and are interconnected by underground corridors, forming what is believed to be the longest defensive system in the world. Miedzyrzecz is also one of Europe’s biggest hibernation sites for bats and sees over 30,000 of the winged critters homing in for the winter.
(www.bunkry.pl)
Wieliczka
Salt Mine
Sitting 327m underground, the Wieliczka Salt Mine—located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland—has been a tourist attraction since the 15th century, when touring the salt-bearing realm used to be reserved to the elite. To be granted admission, you needed the consent of the king, which was only granted to a fortunate few. Forming an impressive maze composed of 2,391 chambers and 245km of galleries, excavated on nine levels, today, one can take the Tourists’ Route to visit the vast chambers (like the one dedicated to Copernicus) hewed out in solid rock salt, the underground lake, and salt figures among other saline wonders found here. Or one can choose to undertake the arduous 3km Pilgrims’ Route that finishes at the Chapel of St. Kinga, made entirely out of salt, as is the mural copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and the statue of Poland’s ‘homeboy’ Pope John Paul II.
Sitting 327m underground, the Wieliczka Salt Mine—located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland—has been a tourist attraction since the 15th century, when touring the salt-bearing realm used to be reserved to the elite. To be granted admission, you needed the consent of the king, which was only granted to a fortunate few. Forming an impressive maze composed of 2,391 chambers and 245km of galleries, excavated on nine levels, today, one can take the Tourists’ Route to visit the vast chambers (like the one dedicated to Copernicus) hewed out in solid rock salt, the underground lake, and salt figures among other saline wonders found here. Or one can choose to undertake the arduous 3km Pilgrims’ Route that finishes at the Chapel of St. Kinga, made entirely out of salt, as is the mural copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and the statue of Poland’s ‘homeboy’ Pope John Paul II.
Krzemionki
Opatowskie Flint Mine
Straight out of the stone age with a decidedly Flintstones-eque vibe to it—with everything from a wax model of a well-endowed cave man to a recreated Jurassic Period dinosaur on full display—the underground Neolithic Krzemionki Opatowskie Flint Mine is located eight kilometers north-east of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski in central Poland. The popular Tourist Route that is 465m long, descending 11.5m at the deepest point, takes you through the Neolithic pillar-chamber mining pits, with connecting sections excavated in limestone rock that pass inside the natural striped flint-bearing bank. All this seen through special inspection windows.
Straight out of the stone age with a decidedly Flintstones-eque vibe to it—with everything from a wax model of a well-endowed cave man to a recreated Jurassic Period dinosaur on full display—the underground Neolithic Krzemionki Opatowskie Flint Mine is located eight kilometers north-east of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski in central Poland. The popular Tourist Route that is 465m long, descending 11.5m at the deepest point, takes you through the Neolithic pillar-chamber mining pits, with connecting sections excavated in limestone rock that pass inside the natural striped flint-bearing bank. All this seen through special inspection windows.
(www.krzemionki.pl)
Chelm’s
Chalk Tunnels
Running under Poland’s industrial city of Chelm in the east of the country, at a depth of 27m at the lowest of its five levels, only 2km of the actual 15km of the meandering chalk tunnels are navigable by visitors today. Hewn out by hand in the Middle Ages, when chalk was a much prized commodity, the network of passages were sealed off when the mining of chalk was discontinued in the 19th Century. Only to be restored to its current form in 1985. The 50 minutes tunnel tour offered, runs through three underground complexes of passageways—in the area of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and under the Old City Market Square and Przechodnia Street. En route, if you’re lucky, you may even encounter the benevolent Bieluch, the resident ghost who is said to sometimes appear as visitors pass through the galleries.
Running under Poland’s industrial city of Chelm in the east of the country, at a depth of 27m at the lowest of its five levels, only 2km of the actual 15km of the meandering chalk tunnels are navigable by visitors today. Hewn out by hand in the Middle Ages, when chalk was a much prized commodity, the network of passages were sealed off when the mining of chalk was discontinued in the 19th Century. Only to be restored to its current form in 1985. The 50 minutes tunnel tour offered, runs through three underground complexes of passageways—in the area of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and under the Old City Market Square and Przechodnia Street. En route, if you’re lucky, you may even encounter the benevolent Bieluch, the resident ghost who is said to sometimes appear as visitors pass through the galleries.
Ojcow
National Park Caves
Prima facie, the fecund Ojcow National Park 16km north of Krakow may seem like any other suburban green lung, the kind that sees picnicking families descend en masse for a weekend of ‘wilderness’. But its bowels hold forth secrets and myths that reveal themselves only to the curious. As many as 400 caves lie ensconced here, scattered around the rather diminutive (21 sq km) park with the Ciemna and Zbójecka caves being amongst the biggest. But it is the Łokietka Grotto that draws in the most number of visitors thanks to its ‘guardian’, a rather patriotic spider, who, according to legend, helped preserve the royal bloodline line of the Piast Dynasty.
Prima facie, the fecund Ojcow National Park 16km north of Krakow may seem like any other suburban green lung, the kind that sees picnicking families descend en masse for a weekend of ‘wilderness’. But its bowels hold forth secrets and myths that reveal themselves only to the curious. As many as 400 caves lie ensconced here, scattered around the rather diminutive (21 sq km) park with the Ciemna and Zbójecka caves being amongst the biggest. But it is the Łokietka Grotto that draws in the most number of visitors thanks to its ‘guardian’, a rather patriotic spider, who, according to legend, helped preserve the royal bloodline line of the Piast Dynasty.
(www.ojcow.pl)
Krakow’s
Underground Museum Rynek
With its pyramid-like, blue-lit plexiglass roof jutting out of the ground as the only indicator of what lies beneath, Krakow’s Underground Museum Rynek sits buried 5m below the city’s bustling Main Square. Replete with its own ‘be-skeletoned’ shallow graves, burned out old mud houses and even a horse stable, the museum that opened in 2010, is the actual location of the ancient Krakow city center. Recreating 13th Century Krakow by means of holograms and a rather derelict fog machine, the museum’s main exhibit called In the footsteps of Krakow’s European identity takes you on an audio-visual journey back in time when the city of Krakow—the then capital of Poland—was plundered by Mongol invaders on March 22, 1241 in the infamous Tartar Raid.
With its pyramid-like, blue-lit plexiglass roof jutting out of the ground as the only indicator of what lies beneath, Krakow’s Underground Museum Rynek sits buried 5m below the city’s bustling Main Square. Replete with its own ‘be-skeletoned’ shallow graves, burned out old mud houses and even a horse stable, the museum that opened in 2010, is the actual location of the ancient Krakow city center. Recreating 13th Century Krakow by means of holograms and a rather derelict fog machine, the museum’s main exhibit called In the footsteps of Krakow’s European identity takes you on an audio-visual journey back in time when the city of Krakow—the then capital of Poland—was plundered by Mongol invaders on March 22, 1241 in the infamous Tartar Raid.
(www.mhk.pl)
(A shorter, edited version of this article appeared in the 14th January 2017 issue of the Mint Lounge newspaper, India http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN8AvyUYyrZPHjcDo1h04K/Foot-notes-The-ground-above-your-head.html)
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