The Wieliczka Salt Mine (Kopalnia soli Wieliczka) is a salt mine in the town of Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland. From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced there from the upwelling brine. The Wieliczka salt mine, excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 1996, as one of the world’s oldest operating salt mines. Due to falling salt prices and mine flooding, commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument (Pomnik Historii). Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt, and more recent sculptures by contemporary artists.

Below is a selection of photos taken during a visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mine on December 23 2022. Click on a small photo for a larger view, then select the next one with the cursor keys or the arrows on either side of the photo.