Since its beginnings, Poland has been at the center of Europe – at the crossroads of different cultures. Therefore, here you will learn about multicultural and diverse traditions, historical monuments and interesting history. In terms of those resources, Poland is competitive on the European tourism market as it has many valued assets in the form of sites and events of high historical value – a testimony of Polish and European history, flourishing culture and arts.
Discover the rich history and cultural heritage of a country in the center of Europe through as many as 17 sites from Poland entered to the UNESCO World Heritage List. And the venues and sites are very diverse, with something for everyone. Among them there are castles, historical centers, mines, parks ...
Apart from the historical centers of Kraków and Toruń, with their fascinating authentic medieval buildings, Warsaw's Old Town occupies a special place in our heritage. Appreciated by the UNESCO commission as it was completely rebuilt after the destruction of World War II. Among the Polish Old Towns on the UNESCO list you will also find the Renaissance "Padua of the North", i.e. Zamość.
One of Poland's very attractive tourist regions - the Małopolska province - is rich in as many as 5 sites entered to the UNESCO list. Among them, apart from the already mentioned Old Town in Kraków within the old walls, Wawel Hill and the Kazimierz and Stradom districts, the region can also boast the world-famous Royal Salt Mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia, or the wooden churches of Małopolska.
Not only wooden churches are among the UNESCO sites in Poland, but also wooden Orthodox churches in the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathian region.
The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork is also on the UNESCO list in Poland as a unique architectural work on a global scale whose bold and innovative technical solutions were later used in other strongholds.
The Centennial Hall in Wrocław was also included in this noble group of our country's sites due to the "revolutionary" use of reinforced concrete as the cover with the largest span in the world. Not far from Wrocław you can visit the extraordinary Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica with their impressive interiors decorated with magnificent polychromes. If you head further west towards the German border, you will find yourself in Muskau Park, a German-Polish cross-border facility and the largest English-style park in Poland and Germany.
Additionally, Poland's cultural heritage assets include those listed by UNESCO in recent years: Lead, silver and zinc ore mine in Tarnowskie Góry (in 2017) and Krzemionka region of prehistoric striped flint mining (in 2019).
In our country, you will also find two natural heritage assets listed by UNESCO. These include the ancient, more than 500-year-old Białowieża Forest as a Polish-Belarusian transboundary site and the recently inscribed (in 2021) Ancient and Primordial Beech Forests of the Carpathians and other European regions.
