At 4.48 a.m on 1st of September 1939, the German battleship, Schleswig Holstein, paying a courtesy visit to Gdańsk, began shelling Westerplatte, where the Polish Military Transit Depot was located. The battle lasted seven days. Guardhouse No. 1 was one of the key links in the chain of the Polish defence.

Ostrów Lednicki is an island in Lake Lednica, situated near a route from Poznań to Gniezno. The earliest surviving traces demonstrate that a settlement developed there about 11,000 years ago. In the Early Middle Ages on this island one of the most important strongholds of the first Piast state was built. It was constructed in the second half of the 10th c. at the place of earlier, smaller...

The Wielkopolska Ethnographic Park is situated at the edge of the village of Dziekanowice, near National Road 5 from Poznań to Gniezno. It is placed in the south-eastern coast of the picturesque Lake Lednica and is one of the largest open air museums in Poland. Its centre is a ring-shaped village of a circular type, composed of original peasant homesteads, mainly of a 19th c. date, which were...

The Srebrna Góra Stronghold is a unique cultural heritage site in Europe and one of the most important attractions in Lower Silesia. At the time of its construction (1765-1777) it was one of the most modern fortifications of its kind in Europe. The mighty Donjon, one of the most interesting fortifications of the modern era, was and still is a source of the greatest admiration. However, the...

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the oldest enterprises in Europe. It was a production plant already in the 13th century, and over the following centuries it contributed to the power of the Polish economy. It supplied salt to the tables of almost all of Europe. Nowadays, it is one of the most frequently visited places in Poland and a still active mining plant, where intensive security...

Centrum Nauki i Sztuki Stara Kopalnia (en. “Former Mine” Science and Art Centre) in Wałbrzych is the biggest post-industrial tourist attraction in Poland, located in the former bituminous coal mine – Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego “Julia” (“Thorez”). The 2014 revitalization of the biggest mine located in Wałbrzych which at the height of its activity employed several thousand workers allowed for the...

In Sudol near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski there is an unusual place – the Archaeological Museum and Krzemionki Reserve. Striped flint mines operated here during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The architecture of the prehistoric excavations and the landscape on the surface are an invaluable testimony to the knowledge and technical capabilities of the people of the Stone Age. This unique...

The six hectares of green parkland feature original, large-scale devices designed to stimulate thinking and teach, but also to entertain so that learning becomes a pleasure at every age. The devices are arranged in thematic groups covering optics, hydrostatics, acoustics, and mechanics. There are now more than 100 stations among the park’s greenery to perform simple physics experiments in...

The Wisłoujście Fortress is the oldest coastal fortress of the Polish seacoast. In the modern times, it is often called the Gate to the Republic of Poland. The impressive fortification protected ships on their way to the port of Gdańsk. It also played the function of a lighthouse, the berthing site of the Polish fleet, and a prison. Wisłoujście Fortress is made up of several rings of...

The contents of the Princes Czartoryski Library originate from the family's personal book collections preserved in numerous residences. The beginnings of the library, founded by Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and Izabela Czartoryska nee Fleming, date back to the year 1770, which marks the creation of the first collection catalogue of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski's private library...