Corbridge Family Blog: Sculptures made of salt!!!???

We started down into the salt mine with 380 steps. Looking down the center of the stairs was really cool because you could see at least 100 flights of stairs to go. Once we got to the bottom the tour guide told us to stay with him because “you will get lost and not survive.” The first room we went into had a sculpture made out of salt. The statue was of Copernicus who visited the mine a long time ago. In the next room there were sculptures of someone giving a gift to the queen out of salt. In that room there was a recording that told us about what the sculptures were about.

The next room contained a stick with four pegs sticking out. People pushed the pegs so heavy loads could be lifted to other levels of the mine. After that we went deeper into the mine and saw original stairs for the mine that were built about 700. On the ceiling you could see were people used chisels of pickaxes to carve out the mine. While going down there were a few sculptures of dwarfs. The next room contained a wooden log with pegs sticking out. This one was for horses. The horses could lift 2 tons of weight at once. Once a horse was brought into the mine it was never taken out unless sick or old.

Once we got down to the next level the guide told us that water ruins the salt and could cause sink holes. The miners made wooden pipes to get the water out of the mine. In the same room there was an original pipe. The next room that we came across was about as big as a stake center building. It was about 30 meters high and really long. Hanging from the ceiling were huge chandeliers made out of salt crystals. On the walls were many carvings such as a amazing sculpture of the nativity. One of the other sculptures was made of salt crystal with salt crystal all around it. My favorite sculpture in the room was the one of the last super that looked so three dimensional and looks like it was carved in really deep, but really it was only 12 centimeters thick.

The room after that was a snack room with a ton of supports to keep it up. The guide lead us to the next room that was blown with dynamite and had no supports. In the bottom of the room there was water. The water did not destroy the salt because the water could not hold any more salt. In the same room was a statue of someone holding a staff. Earlier in the mine we saw sculptures of how people in the olden days got a dangerous chemical out of the rocks that was explosive. Miners had to crawl on their hands and knees with a big long stick with a fire on the end. When the fire touched the rock the rock exploded. Hopefully you didn't get crushed by a falling rock.

The next room contained water also, but there too there was enough salt in it that the salt did not collapse. The deepest we went was 130 meter deep while the deepest point in the mine is 330 meters. The highest room was 36 meters. On the ground in some places there were original rail tracks. The most amazing thing about the mine is that salt in the the middle ages was as valuable as gold. The sculptures were all made by miners not professionals.

To get up out of the mine we went up a six story elevator. The elevator had six floors to take people up. The people crammed as many people could possibly fit in the elevator. The elevator was shaky with small holes in the walls. When we got to the top we got some ice cream and left.