Initiative Launched to Preserve the Memory of the Praid Salt Mine

Drone footage of the surface of the Parajd salt mine on June 18, 2025

A community photo archive called “Remembrance of the Praid Salt Mine” (“Parajdi Sóbánya Emlékezete”) is being created about the recently flooded salt mine in Praid (Parajd, Transylvania region in Romania). The archive will compile photos, videos, and memories related to the once popular tourist attraction in Szeklerland. An exhibition is also planned from the collection to mark the anniversary of the disaster, the project’s initiator, Kálmán Endre Parajdi, told Maszol.ro.

He said the aim of the project is to collect and preserve all memories related to the Praid Salt Mine, whether they are about excursions, healing, or family visits. According to Parajdi, most visitors to the salt mine took photographs, as evidenced by the fact that when the disaster occurred in May, social media sites were flooded with photos taken during excursions and medical treatments. That is when he came up with the idea that it would be worthwhile to collect these in one place, he said.

The community memory collection began, and he created a Facebook page in Hungarian and Romanian, where former visitors to the facility are asked to share their photos, stories, and travel and healing experiences related to the salt mine by filling out a form. The main goal is to “preserve together what will never return,” reads the Facebook page. According to the page,

they are particularly interested in black-and-white or scanned paper photos, memories from mining families, descendants, tourists, and stories about healing, as well as the experiences of people recovering from asthma or other respiratory diseases.

The initiator plans to collect the material on a website in the future, where it will be possible to browse according to various criteria. The longer-term goal is to set up a permanent exhibition.

I want to ensure that these images and memories are not lost, that we preserve them in some way, because those who do not know their past have no future,”

said Parajdi.

He emphasized that there is no sponsor or organization behind his initiative. “There is no money or party behind this,” he said, but if storage space is needed to store the materials, he will certainly need financial support.

He noted that as a tourism entrepreneur, he understands that everyone “laments” the situation of tourism, but in his opinion, the historical significance of the mine, the health treatments, and the blow to the miners cannot be ignored. He considers it important that positive initiatives related to the town in Harghita County also be publicized, as this is not typical of most news reports.

Via maszol.ro, Featured image: MTI/Kiss Gábor