Transylvania’s Salina Turda themepark is housed in an ancient salt mine with millennia of history. Visitors use its vertical shafts to access vast underground salt caverns and lakes dotted with a concert hall, mini-golf courses, bowling alleys, and rowboats.
The mine was a source of titanic wealth in the 13th century, its precious salt enriching the Hungarian kings who ruled it, and later the Habsburg emperors. It has also served as a WWII shelter and a cheese-storage facility. The themepark phase began in 1992.
The site is also marketed to people with lung troubles, its moist, salty air touted as a balm.
Photographer Richard John Seymour shot a stunning series of photos in the site, revealing its broody, massive grandeur.
‘I am often drawn to contradiction in my work, where the heroic, idealistic, or epic meets mundane reality. Salina Turda embodies this idea particularly well. It is an undeniably beautiful historic monument of engineering and human endeavour, but it is now used as a theme park with ping pong tables, bowling, and boat rides.’
‘This juxtaposition raises questions about the value of architecture and space today, in relation to its historic value.’
Take a spin around Transylvania’s subterranean theme park
[Catarina De Almeida Brito/The Spaces]
(Image: Richard John Seymour)