Salina Praid
The Praid Salt is an important objective to be visited both from a tourist and a therapeutic point of view.
Salt Praid is located in Transylvania, in the area called Saltland. This name was first reported in the 18th century and was acquired after the existing ore in the area
The most well-known deposits in Romania, where salt has been exploited in the saline, are still exploited during the time, are those from Ocnele Mari - Ocnita (Valcea County), Slănic Prahova (Prahova County), Targu Ocna ( Bacău), Cacica (Suceava County), Ocna Dej (Cluj County), Praid (Harghita County) and Ocna Sibiului (Sibiu County).
Praid lies around the "Salt Hill" (+ 576m), which houses the largest saltfield in the country. The salt deposit reaches the depth of 2.7 - 3km. As geological age, salt deposits in Transylvania were formed 20-22 million years ago.
History: According to archaeological data, the beginnings of the Praid Salt date back to the Dacian-Roman period.
After 1000, mining and marketing rights were taken over by Szeklers and Saxons. In 1714, the exploitation of salt in the area will be taken over by the Habsburg administration.
After this period, the underground exploitation of the deposit will begin using the trapezoidal chamber extraction method
The Praid Salt Mine is made up of: entrance gates, Mine Gheorghe Doja, Mose Joseph (opened in 1762), Parallel Mine (opened in 1864), Mine Horizontal Horizons. The Parallel Mine is one of the largest artificial underground cavities - 100m long, 40m wide, 96m deep. It was exploited between 1864 and 1949.
The recovery treatments in the Praid Salt began in 1960 in Gh. Doja mine. It has continued since 1980 in the Orizont 50 gallery, 120m deep from the altitude considered 0m, from the entrance to the mine gallery.
Access to Praid:
(from Cluj - 176km)> Turda> Luduş> Târgu Mureş> Praid;
(from Brasov - 166km)> Rupea> Hunters> Corund> Praid. Salt Praid is located 7 km away from the tourist resort Sovata and the Ursu Lake.