Salt Mines in village Solotvyno, Ukraine

English photographer Kirill Kuletski shared the photographs taken by him in the salt mines of the village Solotvyno, Ukraine. There are already over 40 years of treating people with asthma and other respiratory diseases. Salt mines in Solotvyno were opened in the XVIII century, in 1970 on the basis of their open Ukrainian Allergic Hospital. 

In addition to the mines, located in karst Solotvyno salt lakes, salt content is higher than in the Dead Sea.

Alternative therapy used in Solotvyno for asthma and other respiratory diseases, known as speleoterapija.

Speleotherapy was opened in Poland in the 1950s, when doctors noticed that miners in the salt mines rarely suffered from tuberculosis.

In the air, salt tunnels contained ten times less than the microorganisms in the air than conventional surgery. In addition to respiratory diseases, saturated salt air helps to fight against various diseases of the skin and the effects of burn disease. The clinic was located in the village Solotvyno tunnel at a depth of 300 meters above the ground. The temperature is held here throughout the year on the same level - 22 ° C.

Solotvynska hospital was the world's largest institutions used Speleotherapy as the primary method of treatment and rehabilitation after diseases of the respiratory organs. Each year in Solotvyno salt mines were treated from 300 to 500 people - to get to the clinic, often had to be recorded on a waiting list.

Salt production in Solotvyno ceased in the early 2000s due to a sharp rise of groundwater. Branch Speleotherapy closed in 2008 after water breakthrough in the ventilation shaft.

Source — Esquire