The Salina Praid is situated 5 km from Sovata, in the Harghita County which is more famously known as the Salt Zone in Romania. Geographically, the basin of Praid can be found on the east coast of the Transylvanian basin (“a huge salt cellar”), at the base of the Gheorgheni Mountains. The history is traced back to the middle ages around 2nd century AD, when the Romans exploited the salt. The excavations left by Romans were continued by Avars and by Bulgars later.
The history has in fact witnessed the Szekler rising in the year 1562. The Szeklers were Hungarians in origin, lived in the northern-central regions of Transylvania as pastoralists. And their livelihood here made this place more famous for the Szekler Salt that allowed them to mine the salt 3 times in a year without any taxes or restrictions.
Geologically speaking, the Praid is the salt hill, 567 meter tall and called as Dealul Sarii, where you can find the salt deposits in abundance which are as thick as 2000m, and which are estimated to contain about 3 billion tons of salt. The Praid is termed as the natural centre of the Szekely Salt Country. One can find different sorts of recreation too, for instance, the underground playgrounds for children, the billiard-tables for adults, a buffet, salt-spas & salt swimming pools (for wellness and relaxation, rheuma treatment, and skin diseases), salt museum, salt exhibition and sculptures, and of course a church too called ecumenical chapel.
The most attractive feature of this salt mine is the Speleotherapy that amounts for great number of visitors daily, around 2500 to 3000 per day. This therapy also called as halo therapy, is a special therapy used to deal with the respiratory problems like bronchitis, asthma and allergies, etc. A highly ionized air and a higher atmospheric pressure than on the surface 735-738 mmHg on average are concentrated on for this kind of treatment. A very famous treatment in some countries that takes about 18 days’ time.
The mine tours take around the people through all these places in the salt mine, accumulating 25 visitors in a trip, and thus making about 100 such trips daily.
Via Rosca Marius.
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January 11th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
The Praid Salt Mine is definitely worth seeing. I’ve been there twice and it’s pretty spectacular. Too bad that these pictures don’t show the whole activities one can do in there. FUN!
January 12th, 2010 at 7:47 am
Actually, those images are form the Turda salt mine.
Both Turda and Praid salt mines are beautiful, though.
January 16th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Well, I have some bad news for you… The mine that you see on the pictures, is not the salt mine from Praid. It’s the salt mine from Turda, and it’s not abandoned!
January 17th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Wow, I can not believe this gem has been abandoned!
January 18th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
These pictures are from Turda Salt Mine. Praid Salt Mine looks nothing like the mine in the pictures.
+ Praid is located at the base of Gurghiului Mountains. Georgheni is the name of a town not too far(51km) from Praid.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
The images are from Turda salt mine. I’ve been there many times. Wonderful place, now was reopen for the public after an extensive modernization. It defineatly worth taking a trip there, it’s called Salina Turda, in Turda city, Cluj county, Romania.
BTW, Praid is located almost 200 kms eastwards.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
you are so wrong..these images are form Turda Salt Mine. and it’s not abandonated..not at all:P…please recheck your source..
April 29th, 2010 at 11:52 am
1 .the Szeklers were not hungarians , they were the descendents of the avars
2. no avars or bulgars were in romania/dacia-moesia in 2nd century or anywere else in europe as a matter of fact.the exploitation was continued by the dacians
3. that was a dacian salt mine exploited by the romans till 2nd century AD after that the dacians continued it`s exploitation
4. that is not the Praid mine that`s the Turda salt mine
5. the mines are NOT abandoned
May 5th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Szekely Salt Country ? NO SUCH PLACE… just invented by racist / extremist / iredentist migrant hungarian local minority… Another case of genocide against ab-original inhabitants i.e. daco-romanians known as Romanians.. Similar to Albania – Hungary tries to expand disputing land to its neighboring countries (Slovaks / Ukraine / Romania / Serbs)
Transylvania (Trans-Silva / Silvae) i.e. “over the forest” in Latin – and local Romanians are still fluent in a sort of “latina vulgaris”.. officially known as Romanian Language
May 8th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
i explored this mine using my hosepipe
4 gas testers
1 bottle of cider
and my trust crowbar