Wieliczka is an underground city of salt, located not
far away from Krakow. This underground marvel is constructed of maze of corridors
and many galleries, chambers, even chapels made of salt. The most impressive is
the Chapel of Saint Kinga, which has
a legend carved in the hall’s side walls.
A very long time ago, King Boleslaw the Great,
the son of the first ruler of Poland, was one of the greatest leaders of the
country. He was known for his skills in negotiations between the countries and the
military strategies, which showed his shrewdness in outmaneuvering the
opponents. With his powerful skills, he gained additional lands for Poland, as
each ruler wanted to show his influence by gaining more and more lands.
In those times marriages were arranged between
the kings and princesses for beneficial purposes. So King Boleslaw the Great
skillfully negotiated his marriage to Hungarian princess. The union of Polish
king and Hungarian princess would strengthen the friendship between those two
countries. Therefore, the father of Hungarian princess agreed to the marriage.
During those times the roads were traveled by horses
only. The paths were not necessarily smooth. The woods were densely forested,
with an occasional fallen tree, which a lot of times, like it or not, would be
laying across the road, as it couldn’t have fallen somewhere else. So it took a
long time to get from Hungary to Poland.
One day, King of Hungary asked his daughter to
come and see him. As princess was promptly and gracefully approaching king’s
throne, he patted the chair next to him and invited her, “Please, sit down my
dear child.” The king knew that he wouldn’t see his daughter too often and soon
would be the time for her to leave, so without any prolonging, he asked her tenderly
– “Daughter, what would you like to receive to make you happy in your new land?”
Princess Kinga thought to herself “Jewels won’t bring me happiness” – but
suddenly her thought drifted to memories of accompanying her father to the salt
mine, by which she was mesmerized as a child. She remembered the rocks of salt
sparkling in white or crystal shades. – “I’d like to take a lump of salt to
Poland. This is something that will serve not only me, but also the people I’ll
be living with.” The king was greatly surprised by this request, but at the
same time very proud of his kind daughter.
Next time the King went to the salt mine, his
daughter joined him. At the mine, she observed the workers crushing and
collecting the chunks of rocks. She noticed the challenging and tedious work
they performed. Later, she was very pleased to receive large deposits of the
finest salt. As her appreciation, she dropped her engagement ring with a red
stone down the shaft.
The time came for princess Kinga to travel to
Poland. The journey took her through some beautiful Carpathian Mountains. The
lush forests with layers of different vegetation, from ferns growing at the
ground to tall trees reaching the sky, and many shades of green displayed the
most diversified forest she has ever seen. The breath taking scenery and the chirping birds took her
mind off of the long days spent just horse riding and of the growing distance
separating her from the father.
After many days and nights spent in the woods
and villages, they approached the city of Krakow. Shortly, after her arrival,
people came from all over to celebrate the wedding with lots of music, dancing
and food.
During the following months, the King was taking
princess Kinga all over the kingdom proudly showing her the vast territories. At
one of those outings, the King pointed a site of shiny rocks. Princess Kinga paused;
those rocks seemed very familiar. Suddenly, she realized that those shiny rocks
reminded her of the salt mine in her country. She jumped off of the horse, not
waiting for the King to help her down. Rushed to break a piece of the rock and
with the tip of her tongue tasted it. She couldn’t contain her excitement, “This
is salt!”
The locals were asked to start extracting the
salt. While smashing the rocks, they found a deposit with a red stone sticking out.
They carefully chipped the remains over the stone. Princess Kinga gasped, “The
ring looks exactly as my engagement ring, which I dropped in the salt mine of my
country.” She couldn’t understand how the ring appeared here, but for her this
was a sign to dig for salt here. And this is how Wieliczka salt mine started in
Poland and became the largest and the oldest salt mine in the country.
Princess Kinga was known for her generosity
and assistance with the poor. People were always on her mind and finding salt,
which added a flavor to townsfolk’s meager diet, was a comforting discovery for
her.
After the death of her husband, she continued
to travel among the poor, helping them as much as she could. She felt very
responsible for the wellness of her people.
Princess Kinga was a smart ruler and because
of her charitable work, was later named Saint Kinga and the biggest underground
chapel was built in her honor.
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