SC - period salt

[Jenne Heise]

> The German salt mines opened later in the Middle Ages. I can't remember
> if all of these are closed now or not. At least one is a big tourist
> attraction.

One of the major exports from Poland was mined salt; evaporated salt was
exported from Russia. A Salt mine in Wieliczka was said to have been
worked by the 12th century (UNESCO says since the 13th); apparently it is
still being worked in addition to allowing tours. (Bored miners have, over
the centuries, carved chapels, statuary, and other massive decorations in
the upper parts of the mine, which can no longer be worked because
removing the remaining salt would cause the roof to fall in!)
I believe Bohemia and parts of Hungary had working salt mines that
pre-date the Wieliczka mine.

_Bread and Salt_ has an excellent chapter on the Salt Extraction industry
in period and just-post-period Russia. (Bread and Salt: A social and
economic history of food and drink in Russia. R.E.F. Smith and David
Christian. (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1984).)  


- -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me. 

"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker