Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Amazing Salt Mines of Turda Salinas are located in Transylvania, Romania.
Reliable archaeological evidence of salt exploitation at Turda exists from the pre-Roman period (50 BC-106 AD). The Romans (106-274 AD) exploited salt at Durgău in pyramidal shaped chambers. In addition to the salt mining at Durgău, the Romans also exploited the neighboring salt mining at Băile Romane. Volker Wollmann in his monograph on mining writes about the presence of the salt deposits at a Roman fortification. The Roman camp of Potaissa defended the salt exploitations at Turda. The Romans worked only on the surface, in quadrangular pits, up to a depth of 15 meters from where the salt could be easily removed on slippery bridges by using simple lifting devices. In this way, the Romans extracted salt all over Transylvania, and the abandoned excavations turned into lakes.
After the withdrawal of the Romans in 274 there is no definite evidence that salt extraction continued.
In the first document that refers to the salt from Turda, (issued by the Hungarian chancellery in 1075) the salt mines from Turda is mentioned in a place near the Aries River “qui dicitur hungarice Aranas (Aranyos), latine autem Aureus” (“in the place called in Hungarian Aranyos, and in Latin Aureus”). This customs point was located near the former Roman bridge (used throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the 18th century), on the site of the fortified settlement later called Szentmiklos (St. Nicholas).
During the 13th century, the existence of the Durgău-Turda salt mine is explicitly mentioned. Thus, on May 1, 1271, the "salt mine of Durgău-Turda (Dörgö-Torda)" was given to the chapter of the Bishopric of Transylvania
#Romania #Salt #mine #Transylvania #Roman
The Amazing Salt Mines of Turda Salinas are located in Transylvania, Romania.
Reliable archaeological evidence of salt exploitation at Turda exists from the pre-Roman period (50 BC-106 AD). The Romans (106-274 AD) exploited salt at Durgău in pyramidal shaped chambers. In addition to the salt mining at Durgău, the Romans also exploited the neighboring salt mining at Băile Romane. Volker Wollmann in his monograph on mining writes about the presence of the salt deposits at a Roman fortification. The Roman camp of Potaissa defended the salt exploitations at Turda. The Romans worked only on the surface, in quadrangular pits, up to a depth of 15 meters from where the salt could be easily removed on slippery bridges by using simple lifting devices. In this way, the Romans extracted salt all over Transylvania, and the abandoned excavations turned into lakes.
After the withdrawal of the Romans in 274 there is no definite evidence that salt extraction continued.
In the first document that refers to the salt from Turda, (issued by the Hungarian chancellery in 1075) the salt mines from Turda is mentioned in a place near the Aries River “qui dicitur hungarice Aranas (Aranyos), latine autem Aureus” (“in the place called in Hungarian Aranyos, and in Latin Aureus”). This customs point was located near the former Roman bridge (used throughout the Middle Ages, until the end of the 18th century), on the site of the fortified settlement later called Szentmiklos (St. Nicholas).
During the 13th century, the existence of the Durgău-Turda salt mine is explicitly mentioned. Thus, on May 1, 1271, the "salt mine of Durgău-Turda (Dörgö-Torda)" was given to the chapter of the Bishopric of Transylvania
#Romania #Salt #mine #Transylvania #Roman
