BATH SPA

History

The history of the treatment activities

The beneficial properties of salt were discovered already in ancient times, and in the 16^th c. those visiting the Wieliczka Salt Mine were reminded of the ancient truth. The Polish-Latin poet Schroetter wrote about the salt:

"When in your own body you destroy the salt completely,
You lose the body, decomposed immediately.
Creating cancer which devours and grows,
Or Gallic air, originating abroad.
Also foreign bodies, which ache and devour,
Are created when you destroy the salt completely.
Salt makes us strong, it is a balsam for all things,
The salt balsam removes all loss from people.
When the body be badly hurt by somebody,
The wound soon heals when sprinkled with salt.
Therefore doctors employ salt.
Could healing do without salt?
Never! If we wish to cure terrible weaknesses,
When we want to become master in Apollo’s art.
Salt can cure on its own, but when it fails to act,
Then it heals in combination with another matter."

Willich, for his part, claimed that salt mixed with other substances was applied as a cure for snake and scorpion bites, pimples, spots, warts, sores, bruises, dental caries, eczema and tonsillitis. In the 19th c., the Wieliczka spa flowered, when the 19th c. balneology, or treatment with the use of brine baths, become fashionable. Patients arriving in Wieliczka from 1826 on lodged at the local peasants’ and took baths in bathtubs filled with brine fetched from the mine. This inspired the then Mine doctor Feliks Boczkowski to make Wieliczka a genuine spa. The joint-stock company that he founded opened the first bath facilities in 1839. The numerous patients (3,000 in 20 years) were given an opportunity to enjoy warm baths in 12 well-furnished rooms, not only in brine, but also in salt mud and sulphurous water brought from the surrounding villages. A few years later, the spa offer was enriched by introducing steam baths. In this manner, about 36 conditions were treated, from common catarrh to hysteria, infertility and weakness arising as a result of all sorts of ailments. The good administrator that he was, Boczkowski thought not only of the patients’ treatment, but also made their stay in Wieliczka pleasurable and interesting – the city was tidied up, and a park was created where patients could rest listening to an orchestra, as required by the tradition of the known health resorts. Of course in Wieliczka, it was a miners’ orchestra.

19^th c. bathing facilities.

Between 1962 and 1964, the treatment activities in the salt mine were organised by the Monitoring Department of the Regional Specialist Clinic in Krakow. In 1964, the entity providing treatment in salt chambers on Level V of the Wieliczka Salt Mine was officially recognised as department of the PP Krynica – Żegiestów Spa, and from 1999 to 2005, it was part of the Complex of Krakow Spas. In the 1997-2006 period, also a Rehabilitation Ward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration Hospital in Krakow operated in the Mine.

The treatment qualities of Wieliczka were recognized officially in 1970, when by government decree, the town of Wieliczka was recognised as a spa.

The Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre continues the spa traditions and the research work conducted by Professor Mieczysław Skulimowski in the field subterraneotherapy, connected with the organisation of rehabilitation and treatment stays in the Wessel Lake salt chamber 135m below the ground level level.

Treatment of patients in the Skulimowski Chamber in 1990-2005.

Treatment stays in the Wessel Lake Chamber from 1997 on.

respiratory system diseases, particularly bronchial asthma, and rheumatic disorders.

therapeutic microclimate in a salt excavation site with salt particles in the air, in the salt mine at a depth of 200 m.

Wieliczka lies on the border between Sandomierska Valley and Wielickie Upland, 15 km from Cracow. The town centre is in a hollow surrounded by hills. The development of the spa, famous for its historical salt mine, began in 1964, when the world's first underground anti-allergy sanatorium was established in the mine's chambers.

spa hospitals with 153 beds.

The activity of the Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre is directed mostly to persons suffering from conditions of the upper and lower respiratory tract, such as:

• bronchial asthma;
• chronic obstructive pulmonary condition;
• recurrent nose, sinus, throat and larynx conditions;
• chronic bronchus and lung inflammations;
• allergic conditions.

In the Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre, respiratory tract conditions are treated by subterraneotherapy. The method consists in exposing patients to the special effect of intense physical, chemical and biological stimuli, found only in the underground facilities with complex natural and biodynamical structure.

The Centre is the only venue in Poland, and one of very few in the world, which carries out a programme of active rehabilitation of the respiratory system in the special microclimate of salt excavations, including breath control exercises, the correction of the breathing patterns, mastering diaphragmatic breathing, exercising respiratory muscles and cleaning of the bronchial tree. The treatment is organised on Level III of the mine, in the Wessel Lake salt chamber 135m below the ground level.

The fundamental role in the treatment procedure is performed by a unique microclimate which is characterised by exceptional bacteriological purity, stable air temperature (10-12^oC), high relative air humidity (ca 80%) and the content of sodium chloride (24 mg/m³) and of elements like magnesium, manganese and calcium. The air doesn't contain pollutants in which the contemporary natural environment on the surface of the earth abounds.

The considerable air humidity limits the evaporating of water from the respiratory tract and prevents undesired drying of mucous membranes in the respiratory tract.

The underground excavations’ biodynamics plays a fundamental role in treatment thanks to volume differences of oxygen and carbon dioxide with respect to composition of atmospheric air as well as the presence of new elements and aerosols, including chloride-sodium, magnesium and calcium compounds. Also significant are: the stable air temperature (10-12^oC), the pressure, the air circulation, the ionisation, the light radiation and other physicochemical factors, as well the pH factor of 4.5, with bacteriostatic properties.

The microclimate of the Wieliczka Salt Mine is characterised by:

• exceptional bacteriological purity,
• wealth of microelements (including medicinal sodium chloride and magnesium and calcium ions),
• absence of allergens and pollutants appearing on the surface of the earth,
• isolation from adverse outside factors.

Stays in the special microclimate of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, favouring the treatment of the respiratory tract conditions, are not recommended in some conditions:

COUNTERINDICATIONS TO SUBTERRANEOTHERAPY INCLUDE:

• rheumatoid conditions;
• acute infectious conditions;
• chronic infectious conditions (active tuberculosis, venereal conditions, parasitic condition);
• inflammations (purulent tonsilitis, purulent accessory nasal sinus inflammation, periodental abscesses, dermatomycoses);
• active cancer;
• respiratory and circulation failure;
• liver and kidney organ failure;
• jaundice;
• heavy haemophilia;
• systemic disorders;
• hyperthyroidism;
• unstable angina pectoris;
• conditions after a heart attack (for a period of 6 months);
• acute inflammatory and ischemic cardiac condition;
• uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with the change of heart rhythm in the last 6 last months;
• uncontrolled arterial hypertension;
• arterial hypertension WHO Group III with two or more risk factors;
• intermittent claudication;
• heavy invalidity;
• alcoholism and drug addiction;
• serious psychological disorders ;
• serious personality and behavioural disorders;
• psychoorganic syndrome, senile dementia;
• claustrophobia;
• condition after cerebrovascular accident;
• epilepsy;
• vertigo;
• pregnancy and breastfeeding.

It is worth visiting the historical Salt Mine, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After 700 years of exploitation, the mine forms an extensive subterranean town. Sights include wonderful salt lakes, unique chapels with salt sculptures, and mining machinery and equipment. Banquets, concerts and seminars are held in the mine's underground rooms. In the town above ground, interesting sights include historical military stables with characteristic arcades similar to Cracow's Cloth Hall, and the architecture of Wieliczka's town centre.

Health lessons in the Wieliczka Salt Mine

The special "Health lessons in the Wieliczka Salt Mine" programme combines elements of health prevention in the field of respiratory problems and allergy rehabilitation
with educational and cognitive elements.

The Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre’s "Health lessons in the Wieliczka Salt Mine" programme received the Odys 2004 award of the Krakow Chamber of Tourism for the best own offer in youth tourism. This programme was granted positive opinions by the Regional Allergology Consultant and the Regional Medical Rehabilitation Consultant.

indoor swimming pool, 3 tennis courts; numerous hiking and biking routes in the area. It is not far to Ojcowski National Park, which has a lot of unusual rock formations and old trees. Wieliczka is also a good base for sightseeing in nearby Cracow.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre
32-020 Wieliczka, Park Kingi 6
tel. +48 12 278 73 68
fax. +48 12 288 27 73
e-mail: sanatorium@kopalnia.pl