UNESCO monuments in Poland visited during Polish mobility within „Agropuzzle” project between

25th March and 31st March 2012

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

There are thirteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Poland. The first properties were inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1978. Two of the sites are shared with

neighboring countries. Poland also has six properties on the Tentative List. The first places inscribed to the list in Poland were Wieliczka Salt Mine and Cracow’s City

Centre

Wieliczka Wawel

UNESCO monuments in Poland

UNESCO monuments in Poland:

1978 - Cracow's Historic Centre,1978 - Wieliczka Salt Mine,1979 - Auschwitz Birkenau, German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945),1979 - Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest - together with Belarussia,1980 - Historic Centre of Warsaw ,1992 - Old City of Zamość as an example or Renaissance urban architecture, 1997 - Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork1997 - Medieval Town of Toruń, 1999 - Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park from XVII c. 2001 - Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica, 2003 - Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland and Podkarpacie - Binarowa, Blizne, Dębno Podhalańskie, Haczów, Lipnica Murowana, Sękowa, 2004 - Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski on Nisse River (with Germany) ,2006 - Centennial Hall in Wroclaw.

The Leonardo da Vinci project participants visited The Auschwitz –Birkenau Concentration Camp, the Old City in Cracow and Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or base camp); Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the Vernichtungslager or extermination camp); Auschwitz III–Monowitz, also known as Buna–Monowitz (a labor camp); and 45 satellite camps.It is testimony of genocide committed by the Nazi during WWII. Now we may see fences, barbed wire, gas chambers of the camp where estimated 1.5mln people lost their lives. The Natzi tortured and murde-red people from all occupied terrirories, predominantly the Jews as well as Poles, Russians and Roma people.

The monument - tribute to all murdered on the camp in Birkenau.

Barbed - wire fence surrounding the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The ruins of crematorium III where the Nazi murdered people using gas chambers and Cyclone B gas (hydrogen cyanide). There was a changing room in the basement

where the prisoners left their belongings before being gased to death. After hundreds of people were gased, the corpse were taken to special furnaces.

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The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area. The mine, built in the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest salt mines still in operation. From its beginning and throughout its existence, the Royal mine was run by the Żupy krakowskie Salt Mines, believed to be the world's 14th-oldest company. Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding. The mine's attractions include dozens of statues and an entire chapel that has been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. The oldest sculptures are augmented by the new carvings by actual artists. About 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually

The historic Salt Mine in Wieliczka is the only mining site in the world functioning continuously since the Middle Ages to the present. Its original

excavations (longitudinals, traverses, chambers, lakes, windows, shafts) with a total length of about 300 kilometers on 9 levels, reaching the depth of 327 meters they

illustrate all the stages of development of mining technology over time.

Salt statues in Wieliczka .

The concert in Wieliczka Salt Mine.

The Old City in Cracow was the first monument to be inscribed in The World Heritage List. Cracow merchants’ city that goes back to 13th century, has the largest Market Square in Europe. There is a number of historic landmarks in its vicinity, such as St. Mary's Basilica, Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert's), Church of St. Barbara, as well as other national treasures. At the center of the plaza, surrounded by kamienice (row houses) and noble residences, stands the Renaissance cloth hall Sukiennice (currently housing gift shops, restaurants and merchant stalls) with the National Gallery of Art upstairs. It is flanked by the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa). The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland.

The view on Wawel Hill from the Vistula River.

The courtyard of the Wawel castle.

The market square in Cracow-the Cloth Hall.

The Jagiellonian University – Collegium Maius

The Jagiellonian University is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world. Funded by Polish king Casimir the Great in 1364. later formed by

king Vladislav Jagillo in 1400; organised on the example of teological university in Paris.

The Jewish District in Cracow- Kazimierz- Tempel synagogue.

The End