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17th-century views of the Wieliczka Salt Mine
17th-century views of the Wieliczka Salt Mine
Credit: Willem Hondius
Four panoramas, extracted from a series of hand-coloured copperplate maps of the town and salt mine of Wieliczka, depict everyday activities at the Wieliczka Salt Mine in the 17th century: miners carving away lumps of rock salt, horse mills powering water pumps and lifts, brine boiling on the surface, men praying in front of an underground altar sculpted in rock salt. The mine, in continuous operation since the 13th century, is a World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction.