You are near the Ważyński kierat (a type of horse- powered device) on the Ważyński crossing.

A significant part of the impressively sized chamber (longest diagonal of the base: 9 m, height 8.5 m) is taken up by a massive Saxon-type kierat. Some of its original elements were used in the reconstruction, e.g., of the mine shaft.

A kierat is a type of hoist that was used in mines in  the days of old. During the 18th-century modernisation of the mine, the Wieliczka kierats used here were replaced with the so-called Saxon kierats. The first device of this kind was installed in the Bochnia mine in 1776. These devices were distinctive for their vertical shaft with two drums and two winding lines, two directional-carrying wheels, and calliper brakes borrowed from Dutch windmills. These devices were more powerful and more economical. All kierats were powered by horses.

The Ważyn shaft was created in two stages. The first took place in 1709–1755. Initially, it was used for extracting the so-called 'Woda Krowiana', i.e., unsaturated brine, which has always accompanied the lower excavations in the mine. The name of the shaft (and the Ważyn chamber) comes from the name of Andrzej Ważyn, who managed the mine in 1685–1689. The shaft was 26m deep at that time and connected the sidewalk and the Lasków chamber to what was then the Oraczowska Road (Droga Oraczowska). The second level of the Ważyn shaft's construction began when digging broke through to the 'August' level. The scope of the work included the construction of a new perpendicular perforation (up and down) and straightening the old slope shaft. The shaft was systematically deepened until the beginning of the 19th century. It reached the 'VI Stampfer' level, later called the 'Gołuchowski' level.