Saltworks Castle Building

Saltworks Castle in Wieliczka

Saltworks Castle in Wieliczka

It seems that I ran into a castle of some sort here in the Wieliczka Salt Mines. It doesn’t seem to be a popular destination since people just pass by it without giving it a second thought. To me it doesn’t look like a castle at all, perhaps back then it was more imposing but as of now, it only looks like an old building. It is currently a museum which showcases the history of Wieliczka and of course the castle. I decided to just ignore the museum and just take photos outside the castle. I wasn’t very impressed but since it is part of the Wieliczka Salt Mines UNESCO World Heritage site listing maybe there is something more than meets the eye.

Tower at the Wieliczka Saltworks Castle

Tower at the Wieliczka Saltworks Castle

The Saltworks Castle is composed of the current building which still stand and houses the museum and a ruined portion which formed part of the defensive wall. It would have been more castle like had the defensive wall still been there but what remains are the foundations of the original wall. One can clearly see where it was and what shape it was. This place used to be the site of the Krakow Saltworks Board and it is unsurprisingly almost as old as the mine itself. The castle was destroyed in the second world war but was restored after that.

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