Salty Cathedrals

 

Salty Cathedrals 

 

“Salt is the stuff that makes potatoes taste horrible if you don't cook them with it.” (attributed to Bill Ravey, c. 1973)  

We all love a bit of salt on eggs, rice, chicken and chips to bring out the best in them. Salt is necessary for our bodies to function properly, but it’s unhealthy, isn’t it? 

Salt mining is definitely unhealthy. It’s an unpleasant and dangerous activity; the damp, dusty environment of salt mines causes lung disease, and then there’s the risk of getting crushed in tunnel collapses. It’s no wonder that salt miners invoked the protection of their deities when they descended into the depths. 

The practice of praying before mining salt is understandable, and where better to pray than a cathedral? A cathedral in a salt mine is even better. 

Deep underground in salt mines around the world, miners constructed chapels and temples to prepare them spiritually for their dangerous work. There are three salt mines boasting famous ‘Salt Cathedrals’ which are now tourist attractions, supplementing the salt industry in these areas. 

Wieliczka Salt Mine, near Krakow in Poland began producing salt commercially in the 13th century and continued until 1996. The mine has four separate chapels which were carved out of rock salt by the miners at the major and minor shafts, the sites of accidents, and close to the workings allowing miners to celebrate mass before beginning their shift. There may have been many more chapels in the mine’s history which were destroyed as the mine expanded.  

The largest of Wieliczka’s chapels, dedicated to St Kinga, the patron saint of Polish miners (St Barbara looks after all the other nations’), is 330 feet underground, 36 feet high with a floor area of about 5000 square feet. St Kinga’s chapel is decorated with bas-relief sculptures of biblical scenes including the nativity, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion alongside images of the saints with an image of St Kinga overlooking the main altar. The chapel also boasts two fabulous massive chandeliers made entirely from salt crystals. 

In 1978 Wieliczka Salt Mine, with its chapels, was included on UNESCO’s first World List of Natural and Cultural Heritage. 

 

 

 

Zipariqua Salt Mine, 40km from Bogotá in Colombia houses an impressive cathedral, first carved out as a shrine where miners prayed for safety at the start of their working day. It was extended into a chapel in 1932 and in 1950 it was further extended by excavating a huge area from the salt. It included aisles and a basilica dome. Having opened in 1953, it was shut down again in 1990 due to safety concerns because of structural damage caused by ongoing mining on the site. A new cathedral was started in 1991, and four years later the current version was opened 650 feet underground, 200 feet below the original. It is massive, with three naves and the capacity to accommodate 8400 worshipers. The walk up to the cathedral is lined with fourteen small chapels depicting the Stations of the Cross. The whole cathedral has coloured lights illuminating the salt structures and sculptures, making them glow.  

Each Sunday, around 3000 people attend Mass in the Catedral del Sal but, as it has no bishop, it isn’t technically a cathedral, just an extraordinary church. 

 

 

 

Kherwa Salt Mine in the Punjab region of Pakistan is the second largest salt mine in the world. This is where pink Himalayan salt (the stuff that salt lamps are made of) is mined. It is definitely not a cathedral, it’s a mosque. The Mine Mosque is the only salt mosque in the world, so I’ll include it here anyway.

The mosque is in the tourist area, situated on level five of nineteen, cut into the mountain. The tourist area contains many miniature recreations of famous Pakistani landmarks all made in salt.  

Built in the 1950s, the miniature mosque is a ‘copy’ of the beautiful Badshahi Mosque in Lahore. It is fully functional, and visitors are welcome to pray there. The structure, built entirely of rock salt bricks, lit with electric bulbs from within, glows in pink, yellow, orange and red. Although it is very pretty, I only see a fleeting resemblance to the Badshahi Mosque. Both have corner towers.  

I think it’s fair to say that all the Salt Cathedrals mentioned are a bit gimmicky, developed for spiritual reasons in the first instance but subsequently hijacked by the tourist industry. The Kherwa mosque is the most gimmicky, never having been used by the miners for spiritual sustenance. Nonetheless, it would be worth visiting any of these amazing feats of engineering. I’d choose Wieliczka first.