Solivar v Prešove


Useful Information

Location: Solivar, near Prešov. (48.978611, 21.275000)
Open: APR to OCT Tue-Sat 9-17, tours at 9, 10:30, 12:30, 14, 15:30.
NOV to MAR Tue-Sat 8-16, tours at 8, 9, 10:30, 12:30, 14.
[2020]
Fee: Adults EUR 2, Children EUR 1, Students EUR 1, Seniors EUR 1, Seniors (70+) free, Photo Permit EUR 1.
Salt Cave: Adults EUR 4, Children EUR 2, Students EUR 2, Seniors EUR 2, Seniors (70+) free.
[2020]
Classification: MineSalt Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:  
Guided tours: L=1.3 km, D=90 min.
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: NKP Solivar, Námestie osloboditeľov 4, 080 05 Prešov Solivar, Tel: +421-51-77-543-54, Mobil: +421-918-965-698. E-mail: E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1570 salt mine first mentioned.
1571 excavation of the Imperial Shaft (155 m), which was managed by the administrator of the royal crown, Count Salm of Spiš.
1572 beginning of deep mining.
1752 mine flooded, change of mining technology.
1918 start of salt cooking.
1924 old saltworks closed.
1946 new technology of leaching boreholes from the surface.
1970 old saltworks buildings declared a national cultural monument.
1984 new saltworks from 1925 registered in ÚZPF under no. 4239.
2001 salt mining exhibition opened to the public.
2008 salt extraction reaches 100,000 tons of salt.
2009 SOLIVARY akciová spoločnosť Prešov bankrupt, mining at the Soľná baňa deposit ends.
2016 reconstruction of the saltworks.

Geology


Description

The former salt mine Sobanya which is now known as Solivar Salt Mine is a museum which is a branch of the Slovenské technické múzeum (Slovak Technical Museum) in Košice. Solivar is the name of the mine and the mining town which developed around the mine. The salt springs in the area were long known and exploited through the Middle Ages. Then the salt was mined underground with the 155 m deep Imperial Shaft from 1571. It was later renamed shaft Leopold. But in 1752 the mine was flooded by groundwater and underground mining became impossible. The mining technology was changed, the salt water from the salt lake in the former mine was extracted with leather sacks pulled by a wooden wheel driven by four pairs of horses. The leather sacks were quite huge and carried 500 to 700 l of brine. The museum presents the last remaining of those pumps from the 19th century at the location of the former shaft Leopold. The pumps were called Gapel in Slovak, which is actually the German term Göpel which was introduced by German miners.

The brine was put into eight wooden tanks with a capacity of 1320 hl, a total of 10560 hl. Then the brine was passed to a preheating, then to an evaporating pan. The salt warehouse was completed around 1825, the Varňa František and Varňa Ferdinand were built in the same time. Varňa is the Slovak term for brewery, but it this case it means the evaporating pans. Both pans were destroyed in 1931. The salt crystals were then transferred to drip chambers with shovels, where the salt was left for about 24 hours. Then they were heated in kilns to remove the remaining water and after 8 h cooldown the salt was shipped or stored in warehouses.

The old warehous, which was constructed from wooden beams which were bolted together with wooden bolts was the most impressive building of the entire complex. Unfortunately it burned down on May 18, 1986, and only wooden models in the exhibition remain. The exhibition in the historic buildings is a section of the Slovak Technical Museum and was opened in 2001. There is also an exhibition on the life and work of the founder of the technical museum and a pioneer of technical museums in Slovakia, Dr. Štefan Butkoviče. It was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. And finally there is a so-called salt cave, a room built of salt blocks which is used for halotherapy, for the treatment of diseases of the throat and bronchi, bronchial asthma, inflammatory conditions of the nose and nasal cavities, pollen allergies, allergic skin changes, neuroses and exhaustion.