Springs of chlorided, sodic, sulphated, calcic mineral waters (used since 1885, when the resort began developing) and lakes (Baia Baciului, Baia Rosie, Baia Porcilor, Lacul Verde) with concentrated chlorided-sodic water, developed for the treatment of degenerative and abarticular rheumatic diseases (cervical, dorsal, and lumbar spondylosis, arthrosis, polyarthrosis, tendonitis, tendomyositis, scapulohumeral periarthritis), post-traumatic conditions (after sprains, luxation and fractures of the limb bones, treated by orthopedic-surgical methods and healed, post-traumatic arthrosis), peripheral neurological (light paresis, condition after polyneuritis,old poliomyelitis sequels), gynecological disorders (ovarian insufficiency, chronic cervicites, chronic metrosalpingitis), respiratory disorders (chronic bronchits and tracheobronchitis, allergic asthma), dermathological diseases (psoriasis, incipient ichthyosis, keratotic dermatitis), certain vascular diseases (incipient varices, erythremelalgia).
Facilities for warm mineral water baths in tubs, cold baths in the lake, applications of warm mud, for gynecological treatments and for electrotherapy. The old salt mine (Unirea) has been turned into an in-patient sanatorium - at the depth of 210 m - for the treatment of respiratory diseases in a salt air microclimate. The resort also boasts a balneal compound as well as many villas, pavilions, private houses available for accomodation. The intense tourism in this area is determined by the exixtence, at Slanic, of an uncovered salt montain (a natural preserve) and the picturesque Lacul Miresii (the Bride's Lake, or Grotto, 425 sq. m., 20 m deep) which formed in 1914 when a salt mine cave in.
Bride's Grotto |
View |
Images from the Mines |
The mine was opened in February 1938, but actual works started in 1943 and continued in 1970. Mining in a descending direction, both horizontal and vertical cutting out with specific cutting equipment, the rocks were dislocated by explosions and then transported by mining car to the shaft and up to the preparation and shipping line.
The mine consists of 14 trapezoid-shaped rooms with a ten-meter ceiling and thirty and thirty-two-meter floor width. The height of the rooms is of fifty-four meters and the wall inclination angle is of 60. The level difference between the surface and the mine hearth is of 208 m. 2,6 million cubic meters of rock salt were excavated during the working of the mine. After 1970 the mine became a tourist attraction. It was adequately modified to accommodate both visitors and patients treated for various respiratory diseases in the fully equipped sanatorium housed inside the mine. Qualified medical personnel attented and assisted asthma patients treated in the salt mine sanatorium.
Other rooms house football and handball grounds, a running track and even museum. The works of the sculptor Iustin Nastase, among which the busts of the Roman emperor Traian and the Dacian king Decebal and several other pieces presenting relevant elements of the existence of the Dacian and Roman peoples are exhibited in the "Genesis" room.
The "Unirea" Mine |
Genesis Hall Decebal |
Genesis Hall Traian |
Mihai Viteazul |
Burebista |
Genesis Hall Decebal |
Genesis Hall Traian |
Mihai Eminescu |
The "MIHAI" Mine
Located vertically above the "Unirea" mine and separated from it by a 40-meter thick floor. The mine was opened in 1912 and consists of a 6 trapezoidal-shaped rooms with a twelve-meter ceiling and thirty-seven floor widths. The height of the rooms is of sixty-six meters and the wall inclination angle is of 60. Mining was carried out on a descending track. Until 1942, when the Unirea mine was opened, 462.332 cubic meters of rock salt had been excavated. This was the first salt mine in Romania provided with electric lighting.
After 1970 the mine has been the host of several national and international model plane-flying contests, occasions on which free access of tourists in the mine is also allowed.
In the fall of 1994 both mines were severely damaged by the natural phenomenon of salt dissolution under the influence of ground and pluvial waters, which draining the August 23 shaft, flooded the Unirea mine.
The catastrophic aggressiveness of waters flowing down the shaft gradually created huge cavities and the specialists who evaluated the full scope of the disaster decided the closing down of the mine. Salvation was brought by the brilliant idea of Eugen Scrob, an I.S.P.H. researcher. The immediately applied the new method, helped by the miners of the Slanic mine.
It took four years of works to regulate the streambed. Constant drillings monitored the dynamics of landslide and the piezometric level. Also, huge amounts of concrete were used to line the shaft and fill the existing cavities. All costs of these works, amounting to a total of over 20 billion Romanian lei, were exclusively borne by the Slanic salt mine.
After the water was evacuated and the hearth of the flooded mine was completely drained, the site was reopened on July 31, 1998.
Last update: 2003, March 17 | |||||||||
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