page_title: Bex
section_title: The Bex Salt Mine
hierarchical_section_title: Bex / History / The Bex Salt Mine
caption_attribution_description: English: BEX salt mines Polski: Kopalnia soli w Bex
context_page_description: Bex is a municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, located in the district of Aigle. It is a few kilometers south of its sister town municipality of Aigle.
context_section_description: Bex is the site of a famous salt mine.
  The salt deposits in Bex were the first that were discovered in Switzerland.  In the 15th century a salt source is mentioned in the area, but it was not until 1554 that a large deposit was discovered in Panex.  Production of the salt began shortly thereafter.  In 1582 a salt works was built in Roche.  Initially the salt works were run by Bernese patricians and then foreign nobles.  In 1685 the salt mines came under the direct control of the Bernese state.  At the beginning of the 18th century it was entrusted to a general director, the most famous of which was Albrecht von Haller.
  To provide wood for the salt works in Roche, in 1695 a forest was planted in the Joux Verte gorge.  Starting in the 16th Century, they began to replace natural evaporation with boiling to speed up salt production.  The first tunnels were dug in 1684 to find new salt sources.  Salt deposits were discovered in Le Bévieux and Les Devens (both part of the municipality of Bex) and Aigle.  The mine at Le Bévieux was still in operation at the beginning of the 21st century.
caption: Salt mine
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX P4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX P4V1.1", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:05 17:17:16", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "284", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5561", "EXIF ExposureTime": "2", "EXIF FNumber": "39/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:07:05 17:17:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:07:05 17:17:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "157/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1054", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "75", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}