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| SALT MINES IN ROMANIA 15/02/2008 |
| (2008-02-15) |
| Last updated: 2008-02-15 16:11 EET |
Salt is one of the most important natural resources Romania has ever had and its exploitation has a long-standing tradition across the country. On either side of the Carpathians there are no less than 200 salt mountains, located on the country’s present exploitation sites. The National salt Company is Romania’s sole producer of salt. It has 7 exploitation sites providing the required amount for domestic consumption but also for export amounts. Nicolae Grudnitchi, an engineer, was born into a family of Polish origin. For seven generations, his ancestors used to work in a salt mine in Cacica, Suceava County, Northern Romania. Now Grudnitchi has a job at the Company’s main headquarters in Bucharest. He gave us details about the tradition of salt exploitation in Romania.
"Salt exploitation in Romania has a long history. Tools for salt extraction were discovered near to salt mine areas. They dated from the Neolithic age, Bronze and early Iron age. Salt was initially exploited in micro-pits, resembling amphitheatres, where salt was found close to the surface. Later salt was exploited through coastal galleries, pits, bell- or trapeze-shaped rooms. Salt exploitation in Romania has been documented since the Roman Empire, when Dacia was Rome’s main salt supplier, and when the famous “salt roads” were operational. These roads were actually the routes which would carry the salt-laden wagons; the wagons loaded with salt rocks were carrying the “white gold” to Rome. There is the well-known salt-road winding from Ardeal to Turnu-Severin, crossing a particularly famous Roman bridge…”
Salt is now exploited using modern equipment that no longer requires subterranean work. Water under pressure is introduced in the drill holes made in the salt deposits. It dissolves the salt as it reaches deep inside. Then a mixture of water and salt called brine is brought to the surface and processed until the re-crystallized salt is obtained. The ancient mine galleries are now tourist sites, but they have also preserved their therapeutic role in the treatment of a series of respiratory diseases.
Praid, a town in Mures county, boasts one of the oldest sat mines in Romania. This huge salt cellar at the foot of Gurghiu mountains has been exploited ever since the Roman age. The first document attesting the salt mine in Praid dates from 1405 when King Sigismund of Luxembourg forbade the nobles to open salt mines on their own land. Salt’s subterranean exploitation started in 1762, when the Jozsef mine was opened. The extracted salt was wrapped in bull skin and was dragged to the surface with the help of horses.
In the Praid salt mine, 1239 meters below the surface, a real city has developed, with a gift shop, a church, a playground, a museum and even an exhibition hall. 1,250 meters from the entrance point to the underground tourist site, people are carried by the salt mine’s buses, through to the gallery. In the salt mine there is a chapel protected by John Nepomuk the Holy, arranged and consecrated in 1993, and seating 500 people. The salt mine also plays host to classical music concerts, given by the Tirgu Mures Philharmonic Orchestra.
In Tirgu Ocna (a city in eastern Romania), Bacau county, there is also an old salt mine. It is located 240 meters underground and has a spa treatment facility and modern leisure facilities, with sports grounds and a playground for children. The salt mine also has an Orthodox church, completely made of salt, with Saint Varvara, the protector of miners, as patron saint.
Going north to Suceava County we reach the Cacica salt mine, 40 km from Suceava municipality. The name of the salt mine and of the locality, which is home to a significant Polish community, comes from Slavonic, with “kaczika” meaning duck, a common bird in the swamp reeds that used to grow here long ago. Located at the entrance to the old salt mine, currently out of use, there is a small museum which displays tools used in salt exploitation, and old photographs of various generations of mine employees, with some of the background buildings still in place today.
As they go down the stairs into the Cacica mine, tourists will find a beautiful Roman-Catholic chapel, carved in salt rock and dedicated to St. Varvara. Mention must be made that on December 4, the St. Varvara feast day, a liturgy is performed here by priests of the three denominations found in the locality: Orthodox, Roman-Catholic and Greek-Catholic. An Orthodox chapel can also be found in the mine, while 37-metre down the pit there is a Ballroom and a lake where visitors were once allowed to sail.
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