The Historic Center of Krakow

The Historic Center of Krakow, or the Old City of Krakow is the former capital of Poland, situated at the foot of the Royal Wawel Castle. Also referred to in Polish as Stare Miasto, it is the historic central district of the city and one of the most famous old districts in Poland and was the center of Poland’s political life from 1038 until King Sigismund III Vasa who relocated his court to Warsaw in 1596. This 13th-century merchant's town features the largest market square in Europe and numerous historical houses, palaces, and churches with magnificent interiors. The area of the Old City is bounded by the ring of lightly forested parkland, known as Planty, that used to mark the Old City walls and moat. The entire medieval old town is among the first sites chosen for UNESCO’s original World Heritage List, inscribed as Cracow’s Historic Center in 1978. The old town is also one of Poland’s official national Historic Monuments chosen in the first round, as designated on September 16th, 1994, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland. Krakow is a bustling city steeped in history and culture after miraculously overcoming war and a communist regime.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a salt mine located in the town of Wieliczka, near Krakow in southern Poland. The deposit of rock salt in Wieliczka, and Bochinia has been mined since the 13th century, this industrial undertaking has royal status and is the oldest of its type in Europe. The site combines both the Wieliczka and Bochina salt mines and the Wieliczka Saltworks Castle, they illustrate the historic stages of development of mining techniques in Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and a Polish Historic Monument, its attractions include the shafts, and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt–mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels, and a number of statues carved by miners out of the rock salt, and more recent sculptures by contemporary artist. These salt mines transport people to a mysterious world of salt beneath the earth’s surface, they worked continuously from the 13th century until the late 20th century, constituting one of the earliest and most important European industrial operations. Commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996, due to falling salt prices and mine flooding.

Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp

Auschwitz, Polish Oswiecim, also called Auschwitz-Birkenau, is a concentration camp that was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. Auschwitz consisted of three camps including a killing center, the camps were opened over the course of nearly two years, 1940-1942, and closed in 1945 with its liberation by the Soviet army. The sites consist of fortified walls, barbed wire, platforms, barracks, gallows, gas chambers, and cremation ovens that show the conditions of the Nazi genocide that took place in the former camp. According to historical investigations, 1.5 million people, 90% of whom were Jews, were systematically starved, tortured, and killed in gas chambers by means of Zykon B gas. The site was equipped with several extermination facilities and crematoria. Auschwitz was actually three camps in one, a prison camp, an extermination camp, and a slave-labor camp.

The Bialowieza Forest

The Bialowieza Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is an immense range of primary forest including both conifers and broadleaved trees covering a total area of 141,885 hectares. The forest is situated on the watershed of the Baltic Sea and Black Sea, this transboundary property is exceptional for the opportunities it offers for biodiversity conservation. Home to the largest population of the property’s iconic species, the European bison. The forest is home to around 800 European bison, the heaviest land animal in Europe. The Bialowieza forest is one of the best nature getaways in Poland, it is one of the last primeval forests in the continent. The forest is also home to wolves, foxes, lynx, pine martens, wild boar, and deer, it's also a great place for birdwatching and hiking.

The Medieval Town of Torun

The Medieval Town of Torun is a well-preserved example of a trading city from the 13th to 14th centuries, it was an important element in the trading network of the Hanseatic League. Torun is a wealthy Hanseatic port and one of the most important trade and cultural centers in Europe. The town is the oldest historic district in the city and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and features a remarkable original street pattern, and magnificent Gothic buildings testifying to the city’s past splendor. Burgher houses adorn the historic town as well as ruins of the Teutonic Knights’ castle, gates, and towers of the long defensive city still remain. The medieval town of Torun is made up of three parts; the Torun Old Town in the west, Torun New Town in the east, and the Torun Castle in the southeast. The Old Town is laid out around the Old Town Market Place featuring major buildings and monuments that include the Old Town Hall, Cathedral Basilica of St. John, the Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist, the Church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the remains of the old town hall. The New Town features the Church of St James, and the Church of St Nicholas, and The Torun Castle is located between the Old and New Towns.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a breathtaking cultural landscaped park and pilgrimage site that was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. This man-made natural setting with a series of symbolic places of worship relating to the Passion of Jesus Christ, and the life of the Virgin Mary, was laid out at the beginning of the 17th century. It is still a place of pilgrimage today, and the landscape of the park was meant to represent Jerusalem during the time of Christ, and it symbolizes the various stages leading to Christ’s crucifixion. The park is located near the town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which took its name from the park, it is one of the official national Historic Monuments in Poland and was designated so as of the year 2000. The park was established in 1600 by Mikolaj Zebrzydowski, voivode of Krakow for Franciscan friars, and modeled after the 1584 map of Jerusalem by Christian Kruik van Adrichem. The park is notable among European Calvaries for its distinctive architectural features, for the skillful amalgamation of religious devotion and nature, and for the uninterrupted tradition of the mysteries enacted here. The natural features of the park and its architectural structures are connected by paths and three-lined alleys which symbolize the ancient routes raised on them. Italian Renaissance and French Baroque garden and park designs were blended with Mannerist freedom and irregularity. The park features numerous vistas between different elements, with views of the Tatra Mountains and the city of Krakow.

The Churches of Peace in Jawor and Swidnica

The Churches of Peace in Jawor and Swidnica are the largest timber-framed religious buildings in Europe. The churches were built in the former Silesia in the mid-17th century, a symbol of religious tolerance amid the religious strife that followed the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. After the Peace of Westphalia, the Protestants in Silesia were allowed by the Habsburg Roman Catholic emperor to build three churches, the only restrictions were that they had to be constructed outside the city walls, made of wood or clay, and built in less than a year. Albrecht von Sabisch is the architect of these churches, he designed these wooden buildings that had never been seen before in complexity and size, they had to be big enough to be a true place of refuge for the Protestant population. The church in Glogow burned down in 1758, and Jawor and Swidnica were restored by Polish-German cooperation. The interiors of these churches are ornately decorated with Baroque-style architecture. The interior of the Jawor church is decorated with 180 paintings, depicting Biblical scenes from teh Old and New Testament. The church in Swidnica features apocalyptic visions as well as the panorama of the surrounding area. The churches were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2001.

The wooden churches of Southern Little Poland

The wooden churches of Southern Little Poland (Malopolski) represent outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture. They are located in Binarowa, Blizne, Debno, Haczow, Lipnica Murowana, and Sekowa. These churches were built using the horizontal log technique, which is common in eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages, they were sponsored by noble families and became status symbols. The churches are exceptionally well-preserved and representative examples of the medieval Gothic church, and what is particularly impressive is their artistic and technical execution. The form of these Roman Catholic churches is deeply influenced by the Greco-Catholic and Orthodox presence in the region, with some displaying Greek cross plans and onion domes, and the most interesting of the churches combine these features with the Roman forms with elongated naves and steeples. Many of these churches are several hundred years old, and six were entered on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List. The Route of Timber Architecture in the Malopolska region, there are six trails on the route that cover over 930 miles, and feature 232 timber constructions of great value which include 123 Roman-Catholic churches, 39 Orthodox churches, 25 rural and small town complexes, and 27 rural architecture museum.

Muskau Park

Muskau Park (Muskauer Park) is a landscaped park covering 860 acres in the Upper Lusatia region of Germany and Poland, the largest and one of the most famous English gardens in Central Europe. The park strides both sides of the Neisse River and the border between Poland and Germany, it was created by Prince Hermann von Puckler-Muskau from 1815-1844. The park blends seamlessly with the surrounding farmed landscape, the park pioneered new approaches to landscape design and influenced the development of landscape architecture in Europe and America. The integrated landscape of the park extends into the town of Muskau boasting green passages that formed urban parks framing areas of development, the town became a design component of a Utopian landscape. The park features a reconstructed castle, bridges, garden art, nature painting, landscape composition, and an arboretum. Herman von Puckler’s park was designed to illustrate an ideal connection between nature, culture, technique, and spirit, he created this sensory space where people can feel both consciously and unconsciously comfortable. The prince described his visions in teh work “Hints on Landscape Gardening”, published in 1834. Muskau Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2004, the park also stands as one of Poland’s official Historic Monuments the same year and is tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

The Centennial Hall

The Centennial Hall formerly named Hala Ludowa (“People’s Hall”), is a landmark and historical building in Wroclaw, Poland made of reinforced concrete architecture, it was erected in 1911-1913 by the architect Max Berg. It is a multi-purpose recreational building that is situated in the Exhibition Grounds and is used to host “exhibitions, concerts, theatrical, and opera performances, and sporting events. The building is one of Poland’s official national Historic Monuments in 2005, together with the Four Domes Pavilion, the Pergola, and the Iglica. It was also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. The hall can seat some 6,000 people and features a 75 feet high dome topped with a lantern in steel and glass, the hall is a pioneering work of modern engineering and architecture, that exhibits an important interchange of influences in teh 20th century and became a key reference in the later development of reinforced concrete structures. Centennial Hall lies close to other popular tourist attractions including the Wroclaw Zoo, the Japanese Garden, and the Pergola with its Multimedia Fountain.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forest of the Carpathians

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forest of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe, the property reaches across Europe from Spain in the west to Ukraine in the east. This transnational property includes 93 component parts in 18 countries, and since the end of the Last Ice Age, European Beech spread from isolated refuge areas in the Alps, Carpathians, Dinarides, Mediterranean, and Pyrenees over a short period of a few thousand years in a process that is still ongoing. The successful expansion across a whole continent is related to the tree’s adaptability and tolerance to different climatic, geographical, and physical conditions. The property was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 and only includes the forests in Slovakia and Ukraine, it expanded in 2011, and 2017, and both times the name was changed to reflect the extent of the site. As of 2017, the listing is made up of 78 forests in 12 countries around Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe. The trees in this forest can live up to 100 years, and provide an important habitat for organisms such as mushrooms, moss, lichen, insects, rare birds, and mammals including bats, brown bears, wolves, and lynx.

The Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region

The Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region is situated in the eastern fringe of Central Europe. The region in Poland and Ukraine comprises wooden churches built by horizontal log construction. The transnational property numbers a selection of 16 tserkvas (churches), were built of horizontal wooden logs between the 16th and 19th centuries by communities of Orthodox and Greek Catholic faiths. These churches are scattered around parts of the isolated Carpathian Mountains and are built on a tri-partite plan surmounted by open quadrilateral or octagonal domes and cupolas. Some important elements of these churches include wooden bell towers, churchyards, gatehouses, and graveyards. Sixteen of these historic churches were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013. Eight on the Polish side, and the other eight in Ukraine. The churches were built of horizontal wooden logs, they bear testimony to a distinct building tradition deeply rooted in Orthodox ecclesiastic design interwoven with elements of local traditions.

The Tarnowskie Gory Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System

The Tarnowskie Gory Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System are located in Upper Silesia, in Southern Poland. It is one of the main mining areas of central Europe, and the property includes the entire underground mine with adits, shafts, galleries, and other features of the water management system. These Historic Silver Mines were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 in Tarnowskie Gory, the mine and neighboring Black Trout Adit are remnants of a silver mining industry. There are remains of the 19th-century steam water pumping station, and the elements of the water management system are located underground and on the surface. They testify to continuous efforts over three centuries to drain the underground extraction zone and to use undesirable water from the mines to supply towns and industry. There are guided tours held in several languages that take place daily, the tour starts in a museum and then tourists go underground to visit the corridors from the 18th and 19th centuries. The total length of the route is 1 mile long with 885 feet crossed in boats through the flooded corridor. The Tarnowskie Gory region is known for its historic lead one mining, the ore mined here was galena, which is a source of lead and silver. It has been one of the most important industrial centers in Eastern Europe since the 16th century.

Krzemionki Opatowskie

Krzemionki, also known as Krzemionki Opatowskie is a Neolithic and early Bronze Age complex of flint mines for the extraction of Upper Jurassic banded flints located around 5 miles north-east of the Polish city of Ostrowiec Swietokrzski. The mountainous region of Swietokryskie, Krzemionki is an ensemble of four prehistoric mining sites, dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (around 3900 to 1600 BCE), dedicated to the extraction and processing of striped flint, which was mainly used for axe-making. There are over 4,000 mine shafts known with depths of 30 feet with wells measuring from four to 13-40 feet in diameter. The striped flint was used mainly for axe-making, its products have been found as far as 410 miles away. The Site is a Polish Historic Monument designated in 1994, the listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.