Read before you visit the mine...
The tour starts at Gertruda Adit. According to a legend, several centuries ago there was a sudden disaster in the mine in which 4 miners were entombed. The mine owners did not see the point in  a dangerous and expensive rescue operation, so they decided against the search for the lost men. Gertruda, one of the miners' wife, carrying a torch and some food decided to search for her husband in the underground labyrinth. Days passed, people waited for Gertruda to come out the mine, but she never appeared again, which was noted down in the local chronicles. Perhaps she got lost in the system of galleries and stayed there forever. Later miners told stories about sound of footsteps the heard whenever they got lost in the mine. When they followed the steps they always managed to get to the exit, none of them though could see the mysterious person that led the lost miners. They just said it was the good ghost of Gertruda who came with help and rescue. Even today some tourists are led by Gertruda to the exit of the mine...
Coming back to the tour, today you can walk along a 500m part of Gertruda Adit where you can see:
- a reach collection of maps of the mine, from 18th to 20th c, including the mysterious map of the Black Adit
- old mining and smiths' tools, minerals, exposition of miners' lamps
- muffle furnace – a laboratory furnace for melting gold
- 18th century hand cart for transporting the ore
 In the side galleries which used to be explosive stores now you can see a laboratory of J. Schärfenberg, a man who in chase for longevity potion discovered a powerful poison – arsenic. According to a legend it was the arsenic from Zloty Stok that was used to poison Napoleon. Do not forget to visit our treasury where you can see 1066 “gold bars” which represent 16 tons of gold that had been produced here for about 1000 years – the period of active gold mining in the area.
Death Gallery – a gallery drilled in the upper part of the mine, with gloomy past. It was a place of punishing those miners who were suspected of stealing gold. The convict's arms were put in the specially drilled holes in the walls and plastered with cement. The death was extremely painful. No human remains were found in this gallery, but there is a mysterious pale coating on the walls containing large amount of organic compounds.
 According to miners' beliefs it was gnomes who watched the gold in mines. Gnomes were said to be miners who had died in underground disasters. Gnomes were perceived as kind-hearted creatures who often saved miners. To do so, a gnome played a rhythm using two sticks, a miner followed the sound to the exit. In our mine you can meet the Grey Gnome who appears unexpectedly with his flickering lamp. If you look in his eyes your dreams will come true - at least a legend says so. Beware if you are a bad person – one look in gnme's eyes can make you stay in the mine forever. If you are hungry for unusual experiences you can take a slide on the 8-metre slippery slide.
Then you go to the Museum of Notices, Signs and Signboards which conveys a collection of notices connected mainly with occupational safety and health, some of them hilarious like the one saying “do not throw your hammer while on scaffoldings” or more serious “what have you done today to reduce the costs?”
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Extras...
 200 m of the Gertruda Adit can be seen from a boat called Titanic. It takes aboard 15 people and is an additional attraction not included in the standard tour.
From the Gertruda Adit we move to the Black Upper Adit.
The entrance to the Black Upper Adit is in the upper part of Golden Gulley, at the foot of huge quarry in Soltysia Mountain. The Mountain was exploited twice-once in search for gold veins in the Middle Ages, second time in the middle of the 17th century to reach for arsenic ore. We can see here differences between shapes of galleries, types of pillars, how the mining technology changed throughout the centuries. We can also see a gallery that leads to Czech Republic, hand-curved medieval corridors and huge chambers that were left after the ore had been removed.
The greatest attraction of the Black Adit is a unique underground waterfall. Deep under the earth surface in a small chamber water falls from the hight of 8 metres just at the feet of tourists splashing on their faces.
2007 we managed to open galleries below the waterfall. It took us 4 years to clear the rocks in the Black Adit mysterious galleries in the so called level nine. The famous Amber Room looted by Nazi Germany was supposed to have been hidden there... The search for Amber Room continues.
From this level tourists take a 300 m ride in the Underground Orange Tram – the greatest attraction of the mine. On the platform of “Main mine” station the guide waves goodbye and encourages you to enjoy the additional attractions of the mine, offering a cup of tea or coffee with a bit of arsenic. Do not worry, the dose is small enough not to affect your health but big enough to become addicted to... adventures.
Everyone addicted to visiting our mine is warmly welcomed to see it again. We bet you will be surprised with our new ideas, attractions and service.
Prince Adit (Sztolnia Ksiazeca)
Apart from the main tourist route there is a possibility of individual exploration of some parts of the mine. Such attraction is curved about 100 years ago Prince Adit. The entrance is very low but other parts are almost 3m high. One legend explains it in that way: once upon the time a prince came to visit the mine. The miners  offered a walk along one of the galleries but the prince did not want to crawl in the mud. He ordered to enlarge it so he could enter it even wearing a hat. The miners did what they had been told but left the low entrance untouched to make the prince bow his head to pay homage to their hard work.
The Prince Adit has no illumination so explorers have to take torches. Only 200m of it is safe enough to explore, then the gallery is sealed. A hole in the seal wall somehow invites you to go further. However, we do not recommend it, because of breakable rocks and mouldy pillars that increase the risk of roof collapse.
After leaving the Prince's Adit do pay attention to the nearby Muddy Adit. A small spring is formed by water flowing from it. According to another legend it is a Spring of Love. The legend says that if you drink a sip of water from the spring and think of the person you love it will make you two stay together forever! |
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