The former signal and watch tower of wooden construction with a bulbous roof - the knocker - is located on an artificially raised hill above the salt area. The first miner's knocker was probably built in the salt area at the time of the salt mine construction, when it was used only as a watch tower.
After the mine was opened, it was used to announce the start of the miners' work shift by knocking, and later it was also used as a fire announcement room. The voice of the knocker accompanied the miners on their last journey.
The wooden board itself hardly differed in its dimensions from the knockers in other mining towns in Slovakia. Its length was about 100 cm, width 15 - 20 cm and thickness about 3 cm. The hammer was made of beech wood. For better resonance, several longitudinal holes were drilled or burned at both ends of the board, which served as sound channels.
The peculiarity of the Saltban knocker was that its guards were obliged to announce from it at night what time it was. This service was appreciated by the miners, salt cookers as well as other inhabitants. Therefore, in 1765 they strongly protested against the demolition of the knocker. On the contrary, they demanded that it be repaired, which it was in 1785.
The Salzknob knocker fell into disuse in the mid-1920s. The tower of the knocker was used for guarding the salt works until 1914, later it was converted into a bell tower. The three-storey bell tower was in a poor state of repair for a long time. Its reconstruction started in 1967 and was completed in 1969.
Source : www.presov.sk
