Original (en)

American tech billionaire Elon Musk shared a viral video presenting the spectacular underground galleries in Romania’s Slănic Prahova Salt Mine on X, the social media platform he owns. The original post, made by the page Tolkien Universe, compared the Slănic Salt Mine to the fantasy universe from The Lord of the Rings. The comparison quickly attracted online attention, and Musk commented, “Wow!” Wow — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2026 The Unirea Mine, located approximately 100 kilometers from Bucharest, features enormous galleries, with walls tens of meters high and chambers resembling a cathedral carved into salt. The salt mine has 14 trapezoidal chambers, and the space resulting from salt extraction extends over tens of thousands of square meters. Today, the place is no longer only an industrial site, but also an important tourist destination. Inside the mine, there are also salt sculptures, leisure areas, and spaces arranged for tourists. Often presented as the largest salt mine in Europe, Unirea Mine is today one of Romania’s best-known underground tourist attractions. Musk’s reaction to the video of the mine amplified the visibility of the images, which describe the Unirea Mine in Prahova as one of the most impressive underground formations in the world, nicknamed by internet users the “Mines of Moria” of Romania, after the famous fictional mines created by author J.R.R. Tolkien. radu@romania-insider.com (Photo source:  Mariusika11, Frédéric Legrand/Dreamstime.com )