Discover Lower Silesia: Churches, Castles and Nature

The Churches of Peace and notable buildings

The Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica are the largest half-timbered Baroque churches in Europe. They were built in the mid-17th century under the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. Here, half-timbered construction and Baroque design come together with a history closely linked to the conditions of their time. If you are interested in churches and European cultural heritage, these two buildings make a distinctive focus for your trip.

Książ Castle is also a key part of Lower Silesia’s cultural offerings: it is the largest castle in the region and the third largest in Poland. It is open to individual visitors and organised groups alike. The Gold Mine Museum is also located in Złoty Stok. The Centennial Hall complex was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006; its visitor centre is an interactive multimedia exhibition about the history of the Centennial Hall. These examples offer different points of interest: a castle visit, a museum and the story of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Another historic destination is the Srebrna Góra Fortress, built near Srebrna Góra between 1765 and 1777. Together with the Churches of Peace, Książ Castle and the Centennial Hall, it offers another way to explore the region’s architectural history. You can therefore plan your trip around the buildings that interest you most, rather than reducing Lower Silesia to a single period or attraction.

Mountain landscapes and trails

Karkonosze National Park is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It covers the main ridge of the Karkonosze Mountains, from the western slopes of Mumławski Wierch to Przełęcz Okraj in the east. This range makes the mountain ridge a central point of reference if you are interested in the landscape of the Karkonosze Mountains.

In the Stołowe Mountains National Park, a dense network of hiking trails extends for a total of 100 km. It includes a section of the Mieczysław Orłowicz Main Sudetes Trail. There are also designated cycling routes in the national park and its immediate surroundings, giving visitors access to the most interesting areas of the Table Mountains. Hiking and cycling thus offer different ways to explore the landscape; the length of the hiking trail network also provides a concrete point of reference for planning your trip.

If you want to focus on nature watching, consider the Stawy Milickie ornithological reserve. It is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and covers 5,298.15 hectares. Together with the mountain areas, it broadens the range of possible trip itineraries with a large protected area designated as an ornithological reserve.

Choose the right focus for your trip

To focus your trip on a particular aspect of architectural history, you could also consider when each site was built: the Churches of Peace date from the mid-17th century, while Srebrna Góra Fortress was built between 1765 and 1777. This can help you choose which period you would like to learn more about.

Other subregions: Głogowski, Kłodzki, Wałbrzyski, Wroclaw, Złotoryjski, Zgorzelecki, Legnicki, Bolesławiecki, Trzebnicki, Oleśnicki, Jeleniogórski, Świdnicki, Lubański, Reichenbach, Jauer, Kamiennogórski, Löwenberg In Schlesien, Milicz, Ohlau, Polkwitz, Neumarkt In Schlesien, Strehlen, Wohlau, Frankenstein, Goldberg In Schlesien, Górowski, Powiat Lubiński.

For the overview of the wider region: Poland.