Salt Mine

Come To The “Wieliczka Salt Mine” For Health…
The Subterranean Kingdom of Salt

One of the salt mines most important functions is to provide health treatment.

The Wieliczka spa had already once functioned between 1826 to 1846. Its spa facility was reinstituted due to the initiative of professor Mieczyslaw Skulimowski in 1958. Professor Skulimowski was also the first person worldwide to begin research in a completely new branch of medical therapy, i.e. subterranotherapy. Today, the underground chambers of mines serve as wards for treating respiratory ailments, mainly asthma, chronic bronchitis, overall throat and larynx ailments, skin diseases, and, various types of allergies. Treatment is based on utilizing the specific underground microclimate so characteristic for its bacteriological purity, high humidity (relative humidity 69% to 79%), and large quantities of sodium chloride (10 to 30 mg/m3 ), and such elements as magnesium, manganese, and calcium.

The air does not contain impurities so abundant within the contemporary natural environment present on the surface of our planet. Research has given evidence that a 14-day visit, 8 hours per day, to the underground spa results in total elimination of bacterial flora within the nose and throat cavities. Further research confirmed health improvement resulting in a decreased number of cough fits and dyspnoea during the day as well as decreased quantities of administered medicaments. Microclimate treatment at the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine has, therefore, become an alternative for pharmaceutical treatment and a most efficient curing method.

The hazards at the end of the 20th century impose us to pay specific attention to our health. The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine has reacted to the increasing demand for such attention and has expanded its health treatment services.