Underground chalk mine in Chełm

We got to Chelm, a town famous for its underground chalk mine.

The museum is located in Chelm's city center, in the vicinity of Castle Hill. We managed to get there a few minutes before the tour started. There was only one problem - finding a free parking spot. The museum had no dedicated parking, so we needed to use one of the city's public parking lots. After a while we found a small parking area at the church located near the museum.

Before arrival, we checked on the website what the tour looked like. Well, there were three available entry times: at 11 AM, 1 PM and 4 PM. The tour was guided, so we were able to hear some stories about the underground tunnels.

The chalk mine is located under the streets, and the route stretches all the way to Edward Łuczkowski Square. This square has an ancient well, the lower part of the shaft can be seen from underground. At the bottom of this shaft archaeologists have found fragments of old weapons during cleaning works.

In the chalk mine, it is quite dark and cold. The temperature is around 9°C, like in the Międzyrzecz Fortified Region. The route was set through chamber tunnels with exhibits of, for example, a former miner, weapons from ancient times, fragments of old vessels excavated by archaeologists, examples of chalk jewelry, and even children’s artwork.

The city of Chełm was built on chalk rock. We learned that in the past, almost all inhabitants of the town were amateur miners. Since the thirteenth century, anyone who could dug chalk on their own, straight from their basement. Chalk was very popular and was a great trade commodity for itinerant merchants. It was used for the manufacture of paints, powders, medicines, pottery and in construction. The biggest expansion of the mine took place in the sixteenth century as a result of the development of the construction industry in Poland. The tunnels dug by residents in their basements began after some time to connect with their neighbors' tunnels, and then the next neighbors', and the next… This way they created a labyrinth of tunnels under the city reaching depths up to 20 meters. Such a labyrinth began to pose a danger to the city, which was built on a structure similar to Swiss cheese. According to historical documents, it is estimated that up to 80% of the houses had their own access to the underground chalk resources. Having such access even affected the property's price. In the seventeenth century, part of a street collapsed for the first time. The first official ban on digging chalk under the streets came in 1787. However, they did not protect the tunnels, and they were used mainly as storerooms for food. It was not easy to control those who still mined chalk. As a result, the tunnels became so large that buildings even collapsed, and walls of houses and roads cracked. In 1957, the ground sank beneath a passing truck on the street. Finally, from 1974 the old tunnels were filled with sand and chalk rubble, and now they are no longer a danger to residents.

During the tour we found out a lot of information about chalk and its mining process. We found out that it was not an easy task. The most valuable were medium and large lumps of raw materials. Extraction took place mainly in an amateur fashion, without special mining tools.

The underground tour lasted about an hour. Between stops where the guide told us stories, there were quite long sections of corridor to walk. The tour's pace was relatively fast. The route is 2 km long. Kids really liked it.

During the tour, a surprise awaited us. According to legend, a White Ghost called Bieluch prowls the tunnels. Therefore, exploring the mine tunnels is not for the fainthearted. We can confirm that the ghost exists, and it even spoke to us. He doesn't like cameras, so we don't have any photos of him. If you want to see what he looks like, you absolutely have to go to Chelm and its underground chalk mine.

Fun fact: according to legend, Bieluch is a huge white bear that lived in a chalk cave and protected good people of the town. The white bear is now on Chełm’s coat of arms. The temperature underground is about 9°C all year round, so it is worth taking a sweatshirt for the kids even in summer.