pl-b1-33 · Reading (edycja polska)
Polish UNESCO Sites
The UNESCO World Heritage List includes places that are so important that they belong to the whole of humanity, such as the pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China. Poland has seventeen sites on the list (as of 2024). Here are four that are worth visiting.
Malbork Castle. This huge castle in northern Poland was built by the Teutonic Knights, who began it in the 13th century. With its red walls, towers and great halls, it is the largest brick castle in the world. Many tourists come for one day, but it's better to stay overnight and enjoy walking along the Nogat River in the evening, when the crowds have gone and the castle is lit up.
Wieliczka. In the Middle Ages, the salt mine in Wieliczka made Polish kings rich: at one time, salt brought in about a third of the royal income. Over the centuries, the miners dug hundreds of kilometers of tunnels. They also decided to build a chapel deep underground, and St. Kinga's Chapel is the result: everything in it, even the chandeliers, is made of salt. Visitors who don't mind going underground walk down hundreds of steps to see salt lakes, statues and chapels.
Muskau Park. On the Nysa River, Prince Hermann von Pückler spent about thirty years changing the land on both sides of the river into a giant landscape park, with meadows, ponds, bridges and alleys of trees. Today, the park lies in two countries, Poland and Germany, and you can walk across a bridge from one to the other. Many visitors prefer exploring the area by bike, because the paths are long and flat.
Krzemionki. This site was added to the list in 2019. About 5,000 years ago, people dug mines here to get striped flint, a beautiful stone that they used for making axes. You can go down into an old mine and visit a reconstructed prehistoric village.
The other sites include the old towns of Kraków, Warsaw, Zamość and Toruń, the former Nazi German camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, Białowieża Forest, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, the Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica, the wooden churches of southern Lesser Poland, the wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region, the Centennial Hall in Wrocław, the silver mine in Tarnowskie Góry and the beech forests of the Bieszczady Mountains. Do you know which one is nearest to your home? Try to visit it this year!
