The Khewra salt mine, the second largest in the world, is a warren of 40 kilometers of tunnels housing an illuminated mosque made from salt rock, an electric train and even an asthma clinic.
The mine 100 miles south of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad is the largest and oldest salt mine in the country, drawing up to 250,000 visitors a year.
Khewra was discovered back in 320 BC by Alexander the Great’s troops, but trading started in Mughal era in the sixteenth century.
The main tunnel at ground level was developed during British rule by Dr. Warth, a mining engineer in 1872 and has been flourishing ever since.
An electric railway has been working in the mine since the 1930s. It once hauled extracted salt from the mines, but now brings tourists in to marvel at the salt formations.
The mine is still the largest source of salt in Pakistan with more than 350,000 tons produced per year, excavated at 18 different working levels.
To keep the vast mine from collapsing, only fifty percent of the salt found is mined in the 110 square kilometre area.
The cavernous tunnels have alternate bands of translucent, white and pink coloured salt.
As well as the traditional mining, for the past three years there has also been an experimental asthma clinic at the mine, attracting patients from all over the world.
Salt caves are seen by some as an alternative to drugs as asthma suffers can benefit from inhaling antibacterial salt particles to clear the lung passages.
The largest mine in the world is the Sifto Canada salt mine in Ontario.
