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 for a few minutes before sightseeing. There is only one problem — finding a free parking spot. The museum has 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 are three available entry times: at 11 AM, 1 PM and 4 PM. The tour is 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 the underground. At the bottom of this shaft archaeologists have found fragments of old weapons during decontamination works.
In the chalk mine, it is quite dark and cold. The temperature is around 9 ° C, like in Miedzyrzecki Fortified Region. The route was set through chamber tunnels with exhibitions of, for example, a former miner, weapons from ancient times, excavated by archaeologists fragments of old vessels, examples of chalk jewelry, and even art works of children.
The city of Chelm was built on chalk rock. We learned that in the past, almost all inhabitants of the town were amateur miners. Since the thirteenth century, every building had its own entrance to the mine through basement. Chalk was very popular and was a great trade good for itinerant merchants. It was used for the manufacture of paints, powders, drugs, pottery and construction. The biggest growth 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 According to historical documents, it is estimated that up to 80% of the houses have their own access to the underground chalk resources. Having such access even affected the property’s price. In the seventeenth century there was the first collapse of the street. Since then, independent extraction of raw materials was banned. However, they did not protect the tunnels, and they were used mainly as storerooms for food storage. It was not easy to control those who still mined chalk. As a result, the tunnels were built 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 in 1974 entrances to old tunnels were filled with concrete 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.
Underground tour lasts 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 has a length of 2 km. Kids really liked it.
During the tour, a surprise awaited us. According to legend, in the basement, a prowling White Ghost. Therefore, exploring the mine tunnels is not for the fainthearted. We actually confirm that the ghost exists, and even spoke to us. He doesn’t like cameras, so we don’t have any photos of him. If you want to see how he looks like you absolutely have to go to Chelm and its underground chalk mine.