Active main winding and man-riding shaft of the UNESCO-listed Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka salt mine, serving visitors, workers, and the underground sanatorium.
Szyb św. Kingi is the principal operational shaft of the Kopalnia Soli "Wieliczka," the historic salt mine inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1978 as one of the oldest continuously operating mines in the world. The shaft was sunk during the period of Austrian administration between 1864 and 1866 and initially named Elisabethschacht (szyb cesarzowej Elżbiety) in honour of Empress Elisabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. It initially reached a depth of 230 metres, subsequently extended to approximately 297–300 metres.
In 1867 a steam winding engine was installed on the surface structure and put into operation in 1868; a salt grinding mill was installed the same year. The original wooden headframe was replaced by a steel winding tower constructed in 1901–1902. In the late October 1918, in the final days of the First World War and in symbolic assertion of Polish independence from the partitioning powers, the shaft was renamed szyb św.
Kingi, after Saint Kinga (Kunigunde), the thirteenth-century patron saint of Polish salt miners. The shaft is the main access shaft for the mine, serving the underground tourist routes, the underground sanatorium, and mine maintenance personnel. It descends to over 300 metres depth and is equipped with a modernised winding engine.
Seven historic shafts of the Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka survive to the present day, of which szyb św. Kingi is the youngest.
The Kopalnia Soli "Wieliczka" is one of the world's oldest and most extensively documented mines, with salt extraction recorded from the late thirteenth century. The mine's shafts were drilled over the course of many centuries; the oldest surviving shaft, szyb Regis, dates from the reign of King Kazimierz Wielki. By the time of Austrian administration in the nineteenth century, the salt mine was already a major industrial enterprise and a landmark tourist destination — the mine had received tourist visitors since at least the end of the eighteenth century.
Szyb św. Kingi was sunk under Austrian rule between 1864 and 1866, during a period of investment in new shafts to support the expanding mine workings. It was the last of a group of new shafts opened in the late nineteenth century and is considered the youngest surviving shaft of the Wieliczka mine. At the time of its completion it was named Elisabethschacht — the shaft of Empress Elisabeth — in honour of the consort of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. The shaft initially reached a depth of 230 metres, providing access to the working levels of the mine.
In 1867 a steam winding engine was installed at the shaft's surface structure (nadszybie) and brought into full operation in 1868. In the same year a salt grinding mill was installed alongside the shaft. The original headframe above the shaft was a wooden rope-disc (linotarczowa) structure. In 1901–1902 this was replaced by a steel winding tower, which stands to the present day. Further modification of the surface buildings took place in the 1930s, when a new winding engine was installed. The shaft was further deepened during its operational life, reaching a depth of approximately 297 metres by the late nineteenth century; sources give a current depth of over 300 metres.
In late October 1918, in the closing days of the First World War and in the context of the imminent restoration of Polish independence, the shaft was renamed szyb św. Kingi — the shaft of Saint Kinga — in an act of symbolic rupture with the Austrian partition. Saint Kinga (also Kunigunde), a thirteenth-century Hungarian princess who married the Polish prince Bolesław Wstydliwy (Bolesław the Chaste), is the patron saint of Polish salt miners. According to the legend of the mine's origin, she brought the gift of salt to Poland. She was beatified at the end of the seventeenth century and canonised in June 1999.
Commercial salt extraction at the Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka was gradually wound down in the twentieth century: hard salt extraction ended in 1964, and all industrial salt production ceased by 1996. The mine now operates primarily as a heritage and tourist site. Szyb św. Kingi is the main active shaft, serving as the principal man-riding and materials shaft for mine maintenance personnel, for tourists descending to the underground routes, and for the underground sanatorium which has operated in the mine's lower levels, where the stable microclimate of approximately 13–15°C and aerosol sodium chloride are used for respiratory therapy. The shaft reaches below 300 metres and is equipped with a modernised winding machine capable of transporting 20 persons. The steel headframe erected in 1901–1902 remains standing. Of the 24 shafts that existed in the Wieliczka mine over its history, seven survive to the present day: Daniłowicza, Regis, Św. Kingi, Górsko, Kościuszko, Paderewski, and Wilson. Szyb św. Kingi serves the western sector of the mine for fresh-air intake, with exhaust ventilation provided by szyb Kościuszko. The mine is part of the Muzeum Żup Krakowskich Wieliczka and is under UNESCO World Heritage protection.