Dissolving: Ferenc Mine

Aknaszlatina/Солотвино, Ferenc Mine, 1908

Aknaszlatina/Солотвино, Ferenc Mine, 2012. Photos by Márton Kállai

“Aknaszlatina or Solotvyno, the once thriving Subcarpathian salt mine is constantly evolving. On the surface, under the former mining colonies the ground has broken, craters are being formed by the water washing away the mines, while the Dead Sea-like experience of the saturated salt solution breaking to the surface lures more and more tourists to soak themselves. The mining is over, and the local Hungarians, once the majority of the miners, have increasingly been shut out from the Ukrainian world of new entertainment. A new world is being formed on the ruins of nature, while the old one lives on along with it in the memories.”

Aknaszlatina/Солотвино, Ferenc Mine, 1910

A courageous man floating among the mine timbers on the salty water of the crater created after the rupture of the former Ferenc Mine