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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland - Wonders of the Modern World!

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One of the 12 original/first 'World Heritage Sites' of the UNESCO, and one of the Poland's official national Historic Monuments, and having the one and only underground church in Europe, and Poland's oldest business venture, the Wieliczka Salt Mine started in the 13th century, i.e., 700 years ago and continued producing salt till 2007.
The word 'Salary' was derived from the word Salt because salt used to be an expensive commodity in olden times and European soldiers were given wages in terms of salt.
The income generated by this mine and from selling salt was a huge capital injection for the country during the times of King Casimir the Great. It covered 1/3 of the state treasury income.
In 700 years, Polish people dug a whopping 287 km of horizontal meandering corridors/passages, magnificent chambers chiselled out in rock salt, underground saline lakes, majestic timber constructions and unique statues sculpted in salt. Today it attracts 1.2 million tourists annually and given the ticket price of Rs 1700 (US$ 25/Euro 21), it generates Rs 200 crore (US$ 30 million/Euro 25 million) annually for Poland. In 2018, around 2 million tourists visited this mine.
It's list of tourists include noted personalities like POTUS Bill Clinton, pioneer of Heliocentrism Nicolaus Copernicus, inventor of Periodic Table Dmitri Mendeleyev, Pope John Paul II to name a few.
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Poland
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