Peace from Within

joi, august 20, 2009

Cacica Salt Mine - Suceava (Romania)



Life underground - Cacica salt mine

Situated 18km away from Gura Humorului, the Cacica salt mine represents an important tourist attraction of Bucovina region. Begun by the order of Empress Maria Theresa, the salt mine were manually dug out and opened in 1791. There are 8200 galleries that were all manually dug out, reinforced with wood and in a perfect condition today.

In the first room, 25 meters deep, was built a chapel. Its called the Church St. Barbara (Varvara), and was a praying site for all the miners who worked there, and even today service is held. To reach the chapel, you have to go down a ladder with almost 200 steps.

Further below, more steps and another gallery (35 meters deep) that leads to a small salty lake (38 meters deep), manually dig by miners, where some time ago, people were putting their rafts to use.

Next comes the Ball room, or festivities room (44 meters deep), today tennis and volley course.

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