Salina Turda Salt Mine NOT AVAILABLE
Souvenir coins are not available at the moment – we will inform you when they become available for purchase.
The Roman occupation of Dacia marks the beginning of systematic mining for the exploitation of iron, polymetallic ores, gold, silver, and salt in Transylvania.
Salt exploitation during the Roman era is probable, but there is no concrete evidence to support this; it’s possible that large medieval and modern salt works (up to the first third of the 20th century), along with the collapse of old mine vaults and the formation of salt lakes, may have destroyed traces of ancient exploitation (galleries, shafts, tools, etc.). In 1876, the tracing gallery of the Ghizela mine intercepted a mining structure previously unknown at the time of its design.
Except for the Dacian and Roman periods—during which there is still no confirmed evidence of salt mining in Turda—it is considered that the beginnings of systematic salt mining, as we define it today, date back to the 11th–13th centuries.
In 1075, a Hungarian royal document referencing Transylvania also mentions the salt mine customs “at the fortress called Turda… in the place called in Hungarian Aranyas and in Latin Aureus.”
The first explicit document referring to a salt mine in Turda is dated May 1, 1271, issued by the Hungarian chancellery. This document granted the “salt mine from Turda” to the chapter of Transylvania. Later, the chapters of Esztergom and Alba Iulia, as well as the Bishop of Transylvania, received privileges to use the salt from the Turda mine.
Documents from the 13th–16th centuries mention that salt mines in Turda were located in the Băile Sărate microdepression and on the southeastern slope of the Valea Sărată. The mining chambers were located where the current salt lakes exist. In the 17th century, the first mining works on the northwestern slope of the Valea Sărată began, leading to the shafts in the “Terezia” chamber. Shortly afterward, the “St. Anton” mine was opened, where salt exploitation continued until the first half of the 20th century.
In a report dated August 16, 1528, Hans Dernschwam, an envoy of the Fugger family tasked with taking over the salt chamber administration, detailed the state of the Turda salt chamber. He highlighted the need for systematic organization of mining operations, increased salt production, and its commercialization both domestically and abroad.
Although one of the most important salt mines in Transylvania during its early days, the Turda Salt Mine began to decline after 1840 due to competition from the Ocna Mureş mine, becoming its backup.
After World War I, salt exploitation became a state monopoly. However, the continued decline of activity in the Turda mine due to low productivity led to its closure in 1932. Afterward, the mine fell into obscurity until World War II, when it served as an air raid shelter. Between 1950 and 1992, the first 500 meters of the Franz Josef transport gallery were used for cheese storage. In 2008, the mine underwent a major modernization project under the PHARE 2005 program, with a €6 million investment, and reopened as a tourist attraction in January 2010. The excellent preservation of mining structures and transport equipment, along with careful restoration, has made Turda Salt Mine a unique place where history and the present harmoniously intertwine.
Franz Josef Gallery
Before the modernization project was completed, tourist access was through the Franz Josef transport gallery, dug between 1853 and 1871. It is a horizontal gallery with a usable profile of 6.16 m², built to facilitate and reduce the cost of salt transport. Initially 780 m long, it was later extended by 137 m by the end of the 19th century.
Along the left wall, markers are placed every 10 fathoms.
As visitors proceed, the underground world reveals its wonders.
Iosef Mine – Echoes Hall
An 1853 description says:
“… the first shaft into which one is lowered in a basket with ropes may be about 50 fathoms deep. It has the perfect shape of a sugar loaf, lined with wood near the opening, widening until the bell rests on the smooth salt floor with a diameter of about 30 fathoms…”
Its shape and isolation from other galleries cause a powerful reverberation of sound, hence the tourist name “Echoes Hall”.
Crivac Hall
An octagonal room housing a vertical-axle winch called “crivac” or “gepel,” operated by horses to lift salt from the Rudolf mine to the transport gallery via an extraction shaft.
The crivac has the year 1881 carved into its axle, replacing a smaller model from 1864. It is the only such machine preserved in situ in Romania and probably Europe.
