Life-size dinosaurs can be found in Heiligkreuz

Swietokrzyskie, translated Holy Cross - hardly anyone knows it. The voivodeship (a kind of federal state) is one of the poorest and most sparsely populated in Poland. But it is worth discovering the mountain region, which historically belongs to Lesser Poland - it is exciting, mystical, bizarre. It is named after fragments of the cross of Jesus, a relic in the Holy Cross Monastery, founded in 1006.

It is inhabited by monks who are happy to show visitors around. Also in the crypt, where 1400 Benedictines are buried and partly laid out as mummies, as well as Prince Wisniowiecki (1612-1641) in a glass coffin. In popular belief, the Bald Mountain (Lysa Góra), on which the monastery is enthroned, is a meeting place for witches, the Polish Brocken, so to speak. Remains of an old Slavic place of worship can be seen here.

The nature is also legendary, the wooded Heiligkreuz National Park with its tree monuments, wolves and other rare animals. The Heiligkreuzgebirge, formed 520 to 400 million years ago, is one of the oldest low mountain ranges in Europe. The stalactite caves Raj ("paradise") are fantastic.

There are pretty historic towns like the regional capital Kielce with the bishop's palace, cathedral, geopark and amphitheater. Or Sandomierz with one of the best preserved old towns in Poland. The old country castles, often with restaurants and guest rooms, are worth a visit. The Zamek manor in Sobkow, for example, offers carriage rides and banquets like in the olden days, the baroque ensemble Kurozwek Rosen, noble horses and Poland's only breed of American bison. You can experience them on a safari – or eat them as a burger topping.

They tower over the visitors, chase each other, peek out from behind bushes: Tyrannosaurus rex, brontosaurus, the pterosaur Pterodactylus – you can meet them and more dinosaurs in person in Heiligkreuz. Although they are sculptures, they are life-size and professionally designed using the latest scientific research. Even with feathers, if need be. And that deep in the Polish provinces.

Dinozaury, as they are called in Polish, are the stars of the ancient Świętokrzyskie Mountains, teeming with fossils. Traces of dinosaurs up to 205 million years old have been discovered at more than ten locations. Also near the village of Baltów. In 2004 the Jurassic Park Baltów opened here.

More than 40 plastic dinosaurs can be admired between trees and bushes along an evolutionary path, created and updated in cooperation with the University of Warsaw. An exhibition of fossils completes the trip. There are also other adventures for families, a roller coaster, raft rides, horseback riding. And best of all, you won't be hunted down by vicious dinosaurs like the heroes in Spielberg's film "Jurassic Park".

Krzyztopór had 365 windows, as many as days in a year. Until Versailles was built, it was Europe's largest palace complex at 1.3 hectares - and certainly the most magnificent. Even the horse stables, which housed 100 Arabs, were decorated with crystal mirrors and marble. Today the 1644 palace is an impressive ruin.

The builder, the then Prince of Sandomierz, Krzysztof Ossolinski, was obsessed with magic and astronomy. There were four towers, twelve ballrooms, and 52 rooms, corresponding to the seasons, months, and weeks of the year.

The prince died a year after its completion. It is said that he was punished by God for his megalomania. The legends of hidden treasures and at least two ghosts are still alive - a white woman, a black knight.

Is it because of the magical powers of the region's witches? Or rather because the Heiligkreuzgebirge is so densely forested? In any case, people in Heiligkreuz already knew centuries ago what the sustainable construction of the future would be: architecture made of wood. Churches, mansions, farms - there are many beautiful examples in the region.

The themed trail “Swietokrzyskie Wooden Architecture Route” (swietokrzyskie.szlaki.pttk.pl/en) connects them. The wooden sacral jewels include the Church of St. Leonard in Busko-Zdrój, built in 1699, as well as the Episcopal Church of St. Stanislaw in Chotelek. The pine church, consecrated in 1541, also has wooden cultural treasures inside, including a late-Gothic wooden cross from the early 16th century and a late-Renaissance wooden pulpit.

In the provincial capital of Kielce, it is worth visiting the magical estate of the Laszczyki family made of larch wood. Incidentally, a special variety of this tree grows in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains: the Polish larch (Larix polonica) with its small cones was first recognized and described here as a variety.

Heiligkreuz offers plenty of industrial romance. Starachowice is home to Poland's first coke-fired blast furnace from 1899. One of the world's largest compressed air steam engines is also on display at the Museum of Nature and Technology, which brings to life 2,000 years of iron and steel production in the region.

Other industrial monuments in the region include the Old Maleniec Ironworks and the Old Forge in Stara Kuznica. And in Krzemionki (UNESCO World Heritage) flint was mined more than 5000 years ago.

"LGBT is an ideology"

That's what Poland's President Andrzej Duda said in the 2020 election campaign. The saying proves that in Poland minorities are also discriminated against at the highest level - also in Świętokrzyskie, which, like three neighboring voivodeships, declared itself an "LGBT-free zone" in 2019.

In his speech, the right-wing populist Duda accused LGBT people (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people) of being even more destructive than Bolshevism.

This has been heavily criticized internationally. Only when the EU threatened to lose funding and the Polish government turned to the regions did Heiligkreuz 2021 lift the discriminatory zone status. In everyday life, however, homosexuals in the arch-Catholic south-east of Poland still have a difficult time.

Bizarre, record-breaking, typical: You can find more parts of our regional geography series here.

Fuel is getting more expensive, but how much the prices go up after the end of the tank discount was surprising. That's why many are drawn to the border regions again to buy cheap petrol from neighboring Poland.

Source: WELT/ Lea Freist