This man is producing salt in the factory that started operating in 1250 and he’s doing it the exact same way as 800 years ago! We can see this process today because Drohobych Salt Plant has just been opened for tours.
This photo is only about 100 years old. I say only because the salt pit that they are using now was put into operation in 1473.
The salt pit is 50m deep and it’s filled with three cubic meters of brine hourly. The oak bars that line the tunnel were put in the 15th century.
They used to lift the brine in buckets. Today, it is done with the help of a pump. It is the only innovation since the old times.
The brine is heated with firewood to 106C. The outcome is 500 to 700 kilograms of salt a day.
At times when the furnaces operated on gas, they produced up to 10,000 tons of salt per year.
Crystallization is taking place here and the salt is being born.
In the West of Ukraine, the salt from Drohobych that is produced in the old way is bought mainly out of patriotic feelings. Even though it is three or four times more expensive than any other salt made in Ukraine, the cost of one pack is 12 hryvnias (about 4USD)
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Source: pravda.com.ua
Photo courtesy: ЕЛЬДАР САРАХМАН