Stołowe Mountains National Park

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Stołowe Mountains National Park is a national Park in Poland. It covers the Polish section of the Stolowe Mountains, which are part of the Sudety Mountains. It is located in South-West Poland, in the Lower Silesian Voivodship, near the border with the Czech Republic. Created in 1993, its area is 63.39 square kilometres of which forested area covers 57.79 km². The area of strict protection is 3.76 km².

The Stolowe Mountains landscape started to form 70 million years ago. The range’s unique shape is a result of hundreds of thousands of years of erosion. There are several notable rock formations, among them “Kwoka” (“Hen”), “Wielblad” (“Camel”) and “Glowa wielkoluda” (“Giant’s head”). Also, there is a sophisticated system of corridors which creates rock labyrinths.

Currently plant life is mostly made up of spruce, which was introduced to the area on the turn of the 19th century to replace pristine beech and fir forests, which had been cut. Natural woodland is scarce and covers only around 3% of forested areas. There are peat bogs, one of which (area of 393,000 m²) was listed as a strictly protected area in 1959.

In the forested areas of the park there are deer, elk, wild pig, squirrels, hedgehogs, several birds and reptiles i ncluding lizard and adder.

The history of Stolowe Mountains is closely connected with the history of the Klodzko County, located on the borderland of Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia. After Hussite wars of the 14th and 15th century, the area thrived and later on first spas at Kudowa, Duszniki and Polanica were opened. Duszniki is also a center of paper production - one of the first paper mills in Europe was opened there in 1605.