A mikvah dating to the 17th or 18th century was discovered in the Polish city of Oświęcim, ironically the site of Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi concentration camp. According to Heritage Daily, Jews first settled in the city in the 1500’s, and numbered about 8,000 at the start of WW. Today, no Jews live there.

Excavation began for the construction of an underground parking garage. Grzegorz Madrzycki, an archaeologist on the project, said that the crew had found a few stairs leading down to a wooden floor, which first appeared to be a fragment of a wooden hut, but after removing successive layers of earth, the structure was identified as a wooden mikvah.

The mikvah was found in excellent condition, due in large part to the natural spring that fed it, preventing fungi from forming