Salt mine in the city of Turda

A visit to this salt mine is like a trip to a completely different world. Journalists of the prestigious site "Business Insider" consider it the most beautiful landmark located underground. In addition, this mine was added to the list of 25 unusual landmarks on Earth, the existence of which the tourists did not realize, although salt extraction here has been happening since time immemorial. This salt palace makes a really lasting impression.

Archaeological excavations indicate that salt mining in this area was carried out before the arrival of the Romans. And the Romans mined the salt only on the surface, they dug holes, most often up to 15 meters deep, extracted salt from it, left a hole and passed on to the next one. Thus salt lakes were formed. The Roman Castrum of Potais appears to protect the salt mining in Turda. After the departure of the Romans from Dacia and before the CI century, there is no information about the development of salt in this area. And salt mining in the sense in which this concept is defined in our time begins in the XI-XIII centuries.

The first document on Transylvania, in which the above-mentioned salt mine Turda, issued by the Hungarian Royal Chancellery in 1075. And the first document on the salt mine in Turda was published on May 1, 1271, also by the Hungarian Royal Chancellery. By this act, the king appointed himself the owner of the Transylvanian Salt Mine in Turda. Subsequently, the privileges to use the salt mine were also granted to the burgomaster of the city Esztergom and Bishop Alba Iulia and Transylvania. In the Middle Ages, salt mining was as important and profitable as today, perhaps, is oil and gas activity. And Romanian salt has always been of high quality. Most of the workers in the salt mines were prisoners.

The importance of the mine increased greatly during the Habsburg Empire, when important work was being done to successfully mine and expand the mine. The mine was initially one of the most important in Transylvania, and began to reduce production after 1840 due to the constant growth of competition from the salt mine in Ocna-Mures. Until 1862, the agricultural mined only three of the old adits "Joseph", "Scales" and "Anthony". At the same time, salt mining at the Anthony gallery at a depth of 108 meters was stopped due to high clay infiltration at the field. In addition, transportation of salt from mines to warehouses in New Turda was a major problem. In order to reduce the cost and time of transportation, in 1853 it was decided to build a transport gallery, which was to begin with New Turda, it was named after Emperor Franz Joseph.

Salt production in the Turda salt mine stopped in 1932, due to the poor quality of technical equipment and strong competition from other Transylvanian mines. In 2011, Romania ranked 12th in the world in salt production, production amounted to 2.5 million tons. Turda Salt Mine was reopened in 1992 for tourist visits, and also as a health center.

With the help of European funds, in 2009, work was carried out on the arrangement of the Turda salt mine. Currently, there are medical halls, an amphitheater, sports halls (table tennis, bowling, mini golf, billiards), a "ferris wheel" from which you can admire salt stalactites. But the main interesting mine is an underground lake, where you can even go boating. The air temperature in the mine is 11-12 degrees, and the humidity in different rooms is 73-80%

• Turda
• Geography of Romania
• Geology of Romania

• Salina Turda, Romania
• Salt mine in the Romanian city of Turda
• Salina Mine, Turda, Romania / Salina Turda Romania