The oldest surviving medieval shaft of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, now serving as the entry point for the Miners' Route tourist experience.
Szyb Regis is the oldest surviving shaft of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, sunk on the orders of King Kazimierz Wielki and documented in operation by 1355, when it had already reached a depth of 57 metres. Located in the central square of Wieliczka, it served as one of the most important of the twenty-six shafts sunk over seven centuries of operation. From the early eighteenth century until almost the end of the Second World War it functioned as the mine's principal extraction shaft.
Surface structures evolved from an original wooden kleta housing a horse-driven kierat, through a steam-powered winding house erected in the nineteenth century, to the current masonry headframe building completed in 1909–1912 when an electric winding machine was installed. During the war the electric winding machine was removed by German occupiers. After 1945 the shaft lost its production role and for several decades served only as a ventilation shaft.
Following extensive renovation co-funded by European Union sources, it was reopened to the public on 7 September 2012 as the starting point for the Trasa Górnicza.
Szyb Regis — the Royal Shaft — takes its name directly from its royal patron, King Kazimierz Wielki of Poland (reigned 1333–1370). Historical research has established that the construction concession was granted in 1334 to Hanko of Zakliczyn, who received from the king the privilege of opening a new salt shaft at Wieliczka. The shaft was in active operation by 1355, at which point it had reached the depth of the first level, 57 metres below the surface. It stands as the sole surviving medieval shaft of the Wieliczka mine.
During the Old Polish period, Szyb Regis belonged to the Stare Góry section of the mine, alongside the shafts Górsko, Wodna Góra, and Seraf. In 1861, under Austrian administration, Stare Góry and Nowe Góry were merged and renamed Pole Wschodnie. The shaft was deepened progressively over the centuries; by the early nineteenth century its depth had reached approximately 246 metres, and it was subsequently deepened further to a final depth of around 236 metres. From the early eighteenth century, Szyb Regis served as the mine's principal extraction shaft, a role it held almost continuously until the end of the Second World War. It was the first shaft in the Wieliczka mine to receive the most advanced winding equipment of each era, and the first to which railway tracks were extended both at the surface and underground.
The surface structures above the shaft evolved through several distinct phases. Until the nineteenth century the shaft top was enclosed by a kleta, a wooden building that sheltered the shaft opening and the horse-driven kierat winding gear. In the nineteenth century, when the kierat was replaced by a steam winding machine, a masonry winding house was constructed alongside a 32-metre chimney. In 1877 the Prague firm of Danek installed an additional steam engine dedicated to water extraction. A more powerful steam machine for salt transport was added in 1892, at which time a masonry tower clad in boarding was placed above the roof. In 1909 the steam winding machine was taken out of service and the headframe was comprehensively modernised. On 23 September 1912 the first electric winding machine in the Wieliczka mine was commissioned at Szyb Regis, and the current metal-framed winding tower was erected as part of that same reconstruction programme. The present masonry nadszybie building dates from this 1909–1912 rebuilding phase.
During the First World War the shaft carried the Austrian name Szyb Franciszek Józef, commemorating the Emperor Franz Joseph I. After Polish independence in 1918 the original name Regis was restored. In the communist period following the Second World War the shaft was renamed after Stefan Okrzej, a designation that remained in use until 1990 when the historic name was reinstated.
During the German occupation, the electric winding machine was removed from the shaft and transported to Liebenau in the Sudetes mountains for use in an armaments facility. After 1945 the shaft gradually ceased its production functions. For the last half-century of the twentieth century it served exclusively as a ventilation shaft drawing fresh air into the mine.
In 2004 Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka began seeking European Union funding for the shaft's restoration. In 2009 a pre-agreement was signed with Polska Organizacja Turystyki under the Działanie 6.4 programme of the Innowacyjna Gospodarka operational programme. Underground works in the renovated passages began in mid-2010, and two automated lifts each accommodating twenty persons were installed by late 2011. Surface renovation of the nadszybie buildings was carried out concurrently. The total cost of the investment exceeded 50 million zloty. On 7 September 2012, the restored shaft was formally inaugurated by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, and the Trasa Górnicza — a separate underground route of approximately two kilometres covering chambers on levels I, II, and III — was opened to the public. The mine's heritage status encompasses inscription on the first UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978, entry in the national register of monuments in 1976, and designation as a Pomnik Historii by the President of Poland in 1994.