Sacred Art in the Salt Mines of Wapno (1957-1977) and Inowrocław (1947-1986)

Abstract

In the mining centres of Bochnia and Wieliczka, the practice of establishing places of worship within underground excavations developed as early as the seventeenth century. In the second half of the twentieth century, facilitated by professional contacts and the migration of miners, this tradition was adopted in the Wapno salt mine (Greater Poland) and, in a more limited form, in the Inowrocław salt mine. The architectural form of these sacred structures was closely determined by the geological configuration of the salt deposits as well as by the methods of their extraction. Between 1955 and 1957, during mining operations in one of the chambers on Level VII (480 m below ground), the Wapno mine created the Chapel of St Kinga. The chapel measured 50 m in length, 25 m in width and 12 m in height. The initiator and director of the project was the engineer Adam Ślizowski (1921-1994), a native of Bochnia. According to his design, a monumental altar was carved in situ. It took the form of a pyramid-like composition consisting of five tiers of rectangular blocks of translucent white salt, with a niche containing a figure of St Kinga sculpted from grey salt in Wieliczka. The saint was portrayed in a nun’s habit, wearing a ducal mitre and holding a block of salt in her hands. The interior of the chapel comprised a single hall, expanded by a sacristy with stairs leading to the pulpit, as well as a cavern in which a Nativity scene was arranged. The scene consisted of several fired-clay figurines crafted by Klara Prillowa (1907-1991), a folk artist from Kcynia. In 1957, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński solemnly consecrated the Chapel of St Kinga. On 5 August 1977, a catastrophic event led to the flooding and complete destruction of the mine together with the chapel. In the Inowrocław salt mine, two works of art were created on Level V (542 m below ground). Between 1947 and 1986, the pump hall featured a mural of St Barbara, painted on plaster by the miner B. Mikołajewski. The patron saint of miners was depicted wearing a crown and holding her traditional attributes - a sword, a book and a chalice containing a host - with a tower shown in the background. In 1986, owing to the increasing threat of flooding, a decision was taken to begin the gradual decommissioning of the Inowrocław mine. In 1986, after being cut from the plaster, the mural of St Barbara was removed to the surface. The second artwork was a monument in the form of a stele bearing a bas-relief cross carved from pink salt and set upon a tall pedestal constructed of white brick. Its creator was the miner Edmund Chybicki. The monument was intended to commemorate all miners who had lost their lives in the Inowrocław salt mine. On 9 November 1981, the stele was blessed by the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Józef Glemp. Five years later, it too was brought to the surface.