By 2005, Poland was no longer a new destination for me. I had visited the country several times since my first trips in the early 1990s and had become familiar with its cities, people and distinctive atmosphere. This return offered an opportunity to revisit familiar places while also seeing how much had changed.
Poland had joined the European Union the previous year and was moving confidently into a new era. Streets and buildings were being restored, transport and visitor facilities were improving, and the country felt increasingly connected with the rest of Europe. Yet its history, traditions and individual character remained clearly visible.
These photographs record another stage in my continuing acquaintance with Poland: not the impressions of a first-time visitor, but observations made on returning to a country that had already become both familiar and rewarding.
Archaeologists working beside the Sukiennice in Kraków’s Main Market Square in 2005. The extensive excavations uncovered the foundations of medieval market buildings, workshops and earlier street levels, together with numerous objects associated with centuries of trade and everyday life. Many of the remains were preserved beneath the square and incorporated into the Rynek Underground Museum, which opened in 2010.
A richly stocked souvenir stall inside the Sukiennice in Kraków’s Main Market Square in 2005. Colourful nesting dolls, carved Polish eagles, figures of the Wawel Dragon, religious images, wooden ornaments and decorative boxes crowd the display. The eclectic collection reflects the enormous variety of traditional crafts and tourist keepsakes sold beneath the Cloth Hall’s historic arcades.
The busy interior arcade of Kraków’s Sukiennice in 2005. Beneath the long vaulted ceiling and ornate hanging lamps, visitors browse stalls selling embroidered clothing, leather goods, jewellery, carvings and other Polish souvenirs. The Cloth Hall has occupied the commercial heart of the Main Market Square for centuries, continuing its historic role as a centre of trade.
A stallholder arranges her display inside Kraków’s Sukiennice in 2005. Traditional white blouses with delicate embroidery hang beside the vivid floral patterns of Polish folk costume, while cabinets of jewellery—much of it probably Baltic amber—glow beneath the stall lighting. The close-up captures the colour and craftsmanship found throughout the Cloth Hall’s historic trading arcade.
Visitors browse the crowded trading arcade of Kraków’s Sukiennice in 2005. Ornate iron lamps illuminate the long vaulted passage, where carved wooden stalls display jewellery, amber, handicrafts and souvenirs. The painted coats of arms high on the walls represent Polish towns and historic trading centres, recalling the Cloth Hall’s centuries-old commercial role.
Visitors wait outside the ticket office of the Daniłowicz Shaft at the Wieliczka Salt Mine in 2005. The steel winding headframe rises above the entrance building, reflecting the site’s continuing industrial character. The shaft, sunk during the seventeenth century, became the principal entrance for visitors descending into the mine’s historic chambers, chapels and passageways.
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Two members of the Wieliczka Salt Mine staff converse outside the Daniłowicz Shaft in 2005. Their formal black uniforms, decorated with rows of gold buttons, reflect the ceremonial dress traditionally worn by Polish miners. The woman holds a modern safety helmet marked with the crossed hammer-and-pick emblem of the mining profession, neatly linking the mine’s long-established traditions with present-day underground safety.
The monument to Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, photographed deep inside the Wieliczka Salt Mine in 2005. Sculptor Władysław Hapek carved the figure from a block of green rock salt in 1973 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth. He is shown holding a celestial globe and his revolutionary work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. Copernicus is believed to have visited the mine in 1493 while studying at Kraków Academy.
A guide addresses visitors beside the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in the Wieliczka Salt Mine in 2005. Carved from green rock salt by Władysław Hapek in 1973, the statue commemorates the 500th anniversary of the astronomer’s birth. The wider view reveals the chamber’s dark salt walls and massive timber cribbing, installed to resist pressure from the surrounding rock and support the excavated roof.
An elaborate chandelier illuminating one of the underground chambers of the Wieliczka Salt Mine in 2005. Its translucent pendants were made from specially prepared and polished crystals of rock salt. Suspended beneath a rough, salt-encrusted ceiling, it provides a striking contrast between decorative craftsmanship and the mine’s naturally textured walls.
The Legend of the Wedding Ring—life-size rock-salt figures in the Janowice Chamber of the Wieliczka Salt Mine depict Princess Kinga witnessing the discovery of her engagement ring inside the first block of salt mined at Wieliczka. According to legend, she had cast the ring into a salt-mine shaft in Hungary before coming to Poland. Photographed in 2005.
A life-size medieval knight, carved from rock salt, stands armed with a shield and mace as part of the sculptural tableau illustrating the legend of Princess Kinga and her wedding ring. The figures, accompanied by a model of a medieval building, occupy the Janowice Chamber on the Wieliczka Salt Mine’s underground Tourist Route. Photographed in 2005.
A mine guide stands in the Spalone Chamber during a demonstration illustrating the former danger of methane underground. Historically, specially trained miners known as penitents deliberately burned off pockets of methane before the gas could accumulate and cause an explosion. The illuminated apparatus can be seen on the ledge above the guide. Photographed in 2005.
A life-size model recalls the horses once employed deep inside the Wieliczka Salt Mine, hauling wagons of salt and powering heavy winding machinery. The Sielec Chamber formerly contained an underground stable for these indispensable animals. Horses worked in the mine from the 16th century until 2002, when the last one, a mare named Baśka, was brought safely back to the surface. Photographed in 2005.
A life-size mannequin demonstrates an early method of moving a heavy block of rock salt through the Wieliczka workings, using a low wooden hauling trolley operated by hand. Displays in the Pieskowa Skała Chamber preserve the tools and techniques once used to extract and transport salt through the mine’s confined underground passages. Photographed in 2005.
The crowned figure of King Casimir III the Great—Kazimierz Wielki—carved from a single block of dark rock salt in the underground chamber bearing his name. Casimir reorganised the royal saltworks and issued regulations governing their operation, helping Wieliczka become an important source of royal revenue during his 14th-century reign. Photographed in 2005.
Delicate salt stalactites hang from the roof while white, cauliflower-like clusters of halite spread across the floor and walls of the Kunegunda Traverse. These formations were produced by secondary crystallisation as mineral-rich brine seeped through the rock and evaporated, gradually depositing new layers of salt. Photographed in 2005.
A historic wooden capstan used for vertical transport within the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Miners pushed against the long horizontal arms, rotating the central drum and winding the heavy rope to raise or lower blocks of salt, tools and other loads through an internal shaft. Its massive timber construction reflects the simple but effective engineering employed before mechanised haulage. Photographed in 2005.
Visitors gather around a reconstructed wooden pump used to remove water seeping into the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Turning the large wheel operated the pump mechanism, lifting brine and groundwater from the workings—a vital task, since uncontrolled water posed a constant threat to both the miners and the salt chambers. The curved roof clearly shows the marks left by generations of manual excavation. Photographed in 2005.
The timber-supported Górsko Passage, an historic 17th-century working within the Wieliczka Salt Mine. A narrow wooden trough, now heavily encrusted with salt, runs along the passage and once carried brine and seepage water away from the workings. The Polish sign identifies the excavation as a legally protected geological documentation site. Photographed in 2005.
Looking down from the entrance into the vast Chapel of Saint Kinga, hewn from rock salt 101 metres beneath the surface. Rows of seats line the nave beneath ornate chandeliers made from purified salt crystals, while carved reliefs, statues and altars decorate the walls. Created over several decades by miner-sculptors, the chapel remains a consecrated place of worship as well as the spectacular centrepiece of the mine’s Tourist Route. Photographed in 2005.
One of the magnificent chandeliers illuminating the Chapel of Saint Kinga, 101 metres underground. Its metal framework is hung with thousands of translucent pieces of carefully dissolved, purified and recrystallised salt, cut and polished to resemble glass. The glowing chandeliers dramatically reveal the chapel’s altars, sculptures and reliefs—all carved from the surrounding rock salt by generations of Wieliczka miners. Photographed in 2005.
Antoni Wyrodek’s rock-salt bas-relief of The Last Supper, created in 1927–28 and inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated mural in Milan. Although carved only a few centimetres deep into the wall of Saint Kinga’s Chapel, skilful modelling and overhead lighting create a remarkable illusion of depth and perspective. Photographed in 2005.
Alternative view of Antoni Wyrodek’s The Last Supper, carved in rock salt in 1927–28 and photographed from the right side of Saint Kinga’s Chapel. The oblique viewpoint reveals how shallow the relief actually is, despite its striking illusion of depth. Photographed in 2005.
The Holy Family’s flight from King Herod is depicted in this rock-salt relief by miner-sculptor Antoni Wyrodek, created in 1927–28. Mary carries the infant Jesus while riding the donkey, accompanied by Joseph on their journey into Egypt. The biblical scene is one of several New Testament episodes carved into the walls of Saint Kinga’s underground chapel. Photographed in 2005.
Tomasz Markowski’s rock-salt bas-relief The Massacre of the Innocents, carved during his work on Saint Kinga’s Chapel between 1920 and 1927. A mother pleads for her child as the scene portrays King Herod’s biblical order to kill the young boys of Bethlehem. Photographed in 2005
A rock-salt carving of the Nativity in the Chapel of St Kinga, deep beneath the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The infant Jesus lies at the centre, watched over by Mary and Joseph, with the ox and donkey emerging from the dark salt walls behind. The chapel lies approximately 101 metres underground and is renowned for its sculptures and decoration created by generations of miners. Photographed in 2005.
The monument to Polish-born Pope John Paul II in the Chapel of St Kinga, approximately 101 metres beneath the surface of the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Carved from rock salt by Stanisław Anioł and two assistants, the statue was installed in 1999—the year in which the Pope canonised St Kinga. He is portrayed in ceremonial vestments, raising his pastoral staff in blessing. Photographed in 2005.
A rock-salt statue of the German poet, writer and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at the entrance to the Weimar Chamber in the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Goethe visited the mine in 1790 while travelling with Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and took a particular interest in its geology and mineral deposits. The chamber was subsequently named in honour of Weimar, with Goethe’s monument recalling one of the mine’s most distinguished early visitors. Photographed in 2005.
The shadowy Skarbnik Chamber in the Wieliczka Salt Mine, its salt sculptures dramatically picked out by amber lighting and reflected in the dark water below. The central figure represents the Skarbnik, or “Treasurer,” the legendary underground guardian believed to warn conscientious miners of approaching danger and punish those who behaved recklessly. A loaded mining wagon to his right recalls the centuries of salt extraction at Wieliczka. Photographed in 2005.
A statue of Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), Polish soldier, statesman and first Chief of State of the restored Polish Republic, carved from the mine’s dark rock salt. Piłsudski is shown in military uniform, leaning upon his sword, against the massive timber supports of the underground chamber named in his honour. The chamber lies approximately 131 metres below ground and contains two excavated spaces connected by a tunnel above a brine lake. Photographed in 2005.
The lantern-lit entrance to the Józef Piłsudski Grotto, framed by pale timber supports within the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Excavated at the beginning of the 19th century, the grotto comprises two neighbouring chambers that were connected by a tunnel during the 1830s and later partly flooded to form an underground brine lake. It was subsequently named in honour of Polish soldier and statesman Marshal Józef Piłsudski. Photographed in 2005.
Entrance to the Józef Piłsudski Grotto and its underground brine waterway in the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The lantern-lit channel passes beneath heavy timber reinforcement into chambers excavated at the beginning of the 19th century. During the 1830s, the adjoining excavations were connected and flooded with brine, allowing early visitors to travel through the grotto by raft. Photographed in 2005.
A miner’s wooden ladder and surrounding surfaces heavily encrusted with glittering halite—rock-salt crystals produced by secondary crystallisation. As mineral-rich brine seeped through the workings and slowly evaporated, it deposited successive layers of salt over the abandoned equipment, forming crystalline crusts and delicate stalactite-like growths. Part of the geological displays in the underground Kraków Saltworks Museum at Wieliczka, Photographed in 2005.
A large wooden bucket wheel forming part of the mine-drainage exhibition in the underground Kraków Saltworks Museum. Containers attached around the wheel collected brine from a sump and raised it to a higher drainage channel as the wheel revolved. Such machinery was essential because infiltrating water posed a constant danger to the workings and could dissolve the salt supporting the mine. The Polish label reads Koło czerpakowe—“bucket wheel.” Photographed in 2005.
Slender salt stalactites hang like threads from the roof of an underground chamber at Wieliczka. They formed as tiny quantities of mineral-rich brine seeped through cracks in the rock and evaporated, leaving successive deposits of halite. White crystalline crusts spread across the darker salt ceiling, while some deposits developed into remarkably long, fragile strands often known as “salt hairs.” A hauling rope descends through the scene, emphasising the scale of the chamber. Photographed in 2005.
The massive wooden drum and framework of a Saxon horse-powered winding machine, used for vertical transport in the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Horses walking around the central shaft rotated the drum, winding and unwinding heavy heavy cords that raised loaded containers while lowering empty ones. Capable of lifting heavy loads through the mine’s shafts, machines of this type were eventually superseded by steam and then electric winding engines. Photographed on the Museum Route in 2005.
A life-size reconstruction of the “Devil’s Drop”, the hazardous method once used to lower miners—and later adventurous visitors—through a shaft in the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Several men were secured to loops or simple seats attached around a heavy rope and raised or lowered together by winding machinery. Seen here suspended high above the visitor route, the figures vividly convey the danger and discomfort of vertical travel before proper cages and lifts were introduced. Photographed in 2005.