The Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the most valuable cultural monuments in Poland, visited each
year by over a million tourists from around the world. It is also a world class historical monument
and as such is inscribed in UNESCO's First World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Today, the Wieliczka Salt Mine represents both many centuries of tradition and modernity,
centuries of history, and an underground city with an extensive infrastructure. The Mine is the
heritage of the work of several dozen generations of miners, and a monument of the history of
Poland and the Polish nation – a brand that has been created in the Polish collective consciousness
over centuries.
The Mine trade mark is among the oldest in the world. It is also the oldest Polish brand: it was the
Wieliczka Salt Mine that started to mark the manufactured product (salt) with a trademark. This
mark was placed on the whitest salt from the purest deposits destined for the royal table, and
packed in barrels marked with the Royal Eagle.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine to this day uses the ancient coat of arms, which testifies to the long
tradition of the enterprise and is a symbol of trust, reliability and quality.
In 2002, the Minister of Economy and the Polish Chamber of Commerce granted the Wieliczka Salt
Mine the status of Brand Name Academy Founder, thus emphasising the company’s contribution to
the development of Poland’s economy. The merit also confirms the company’s fine reputation and
its recognition as a brand name.
The brand awareness inspires us not only to work on preserving the venue for future generations,
but also to continue to ensure high quality of the services provided. Thanks to continuous work on
improving our products and enhancing the quality of services, the Wieliczka Salt Mine maintains
and develops a strong and reliable brand, rooted both in history and in everyday activities.
The Wieliczka salt deposit was formed approximately 13.5 million years ago, in the middle Miocene
period . Its creation was closely linked to the formation of the Carpathian Mountains.
In the Tertiary, especially during the Miocene flysch, the Carpathians range was elevated and
shifted a considerable distance towards the north. The Upper Jurassic limestone formations in the
foreground yielded to the tectonic pressure, and a large trench called the Carpathian Depression
was created in front of the elevated mountain range. The basin was filled by a long and narrow
sea, whose southern shore was formed by the pre-Carpathians, elevated and folded in the lower
Miocene, from which mountain rivers brought various minerals and rock fragments to the sea.
In the middle Miocene, the climatic conditions facilitated the evaporation of water and the
sedimentation of rock salt. In some parts of the sea, rich organic life developed, and on the land,
Mediterranean-type plants like magnolias, olives, redwoods, firs and pines grew. This is testified to
by the carbonised remains of these plants, and traces of corals, snails and mussels, which are now
found in the salt deposit.
Later tectonic movements caused the rocks to shift and previously formed salt deposits to be
destroyed and broken into smaller fragments in the form of blocks of different sizes. This material,
along with other rocks, was pushed onto previously formed layers of salt. It is also possible that
the formation of deposits was influenced by sizeable undersea landslides. As a result of a number
of processes, a rock formation, referred to as a blocky deposit, was formed. The lower part of the
salt deposits found in the Mine preserved its continuity and layering, and is referred to as the
layered deposit.
The upper part of the salt bed, the blocky deposit, is composed mostly of blocks of marl claystone,
among which different-size salt cubes are located. It was in these blocks that the oldest and most
beautiful chambers in the Wieliczka Salt Mine were carved.
The lower part, the layered deposit, is a complex of rock salt layers of different types. Due to the
tectonic movements of the rock mass, these are formed into a series of folds.
The creation of the whole Wieliczka rock salt deposit was a short episode in the history of the
Miocene sea and it lasted about 20,000 years.
The Wieliczka salt deposit contains exclusively rock salts. It extends from West to East along the
nor the Carpathians, and it has so far been discovered to extend over approximately 10 kilometres.
The deposit varies in width and ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 kilometres, and it also largely varies in
thickness, which ranges from 1 to about 350 meters.