Is it possible? Yes it is. Using special salt mixes, builders in countries from Bolivia to Poland have been building with sodium chloride for centuries.
Humans have a long, conflicted relationship with salt. Homer called it “the divine substance.” It drove many of the earliest trading economies, from the Phoenicians to the Venetians, and towns built around salt mines are some of the earliest human settlements. These days, some claim we’re addicted to it.
In his book Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky explains that modern humans eat so much salt, it’s hard to imagine how precious it once was. “Salt is so common,” he says, “that we have forgotten that from the beginning of civilisation until about a hundred years ago salt was one of the most sought after commodities in human history.”
Which would have made these nine salty structures — which are built almost entirely from salt blocks — incredibly valuable. Check them out below.
The Salt Palace in Saline, Texas has been lickable for 80 years. Literally. Visitors are encouraged to taste the building. Deep below it are the expansive salt deposits that produce the ubiquitous American brand, Morton’s Salt.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is the biggest salt flat in the world (as well as the world’s largest lithium reserves!). So naturally, that’s the spot where someone would think to build the Palacio de Sal, a hotel made of salt.
Image credit: Palacio de Sal
This sodium-rich building is located in the Salinas Grandes salt desert in Argentina.
Image credit: Flickr
The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Krakow, Poland, is incredible. One of the oldest salt mines in the world, it continuously produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007. It has several chapels carved from salt, like this one.
Image credit: Flickr
An entire cathedral carved from salt.
Image credit: Flickr
Hundreds of icons and carvings, all created by the miners.
Image credit: Flickr
And this amazing rock salt chandelier.
Image credit: Flickr
Bochnia, Poland also has its own, slightly lesser known salt mines, where this lovely subterranean church is located.
Image credit: Wikipedia
You’ll find this illuminated salt mosque in the depths of the Khewra Salt Mine in Punjab, Pakistan.
Image credit: Flickr