The Karkonosze National Park ( pl, Karkonoski Park Narodowy) is a
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in the
Karkonosze Mountains in the
Sudetes
The Sudetes ( ; pl, Sudety; german: Sudeten; cs, Krkonošsko-jesenická subprovincie), commonly known as the Sudeten Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince in Central Europe, shared by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. They consis ...
in southwestern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, along the border with the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
The
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
is located in
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...
, in the highest part of the
Sudetes
The Sudetes ( ; pl, Sudety; german: Sudeten; cs, Krkonošsko-jesenická subprovincie), commonly known as the Sudeten Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince in Central Europe, shared by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. They consis ...
. It was created in 1959 to cover an area of 55.10 km
2. Today it is slightly larger at , of which 17.18 km
2 is strictly protected. The majority of the park area, around 33.80 km
2, consists of forests. In 1992 Karkonosze National Park, together with the neighbouring Czech
Krkonoše National Park
Krkonoše National Park ( cs, Krkonošský národní park, often abbreviated as KRNAP) is a national park in the Liberec and Hradec Králové regions of the Czech Republic. It lies in the Krkonoše Mountains which is the highest range of the c ...
, became part of the
Krkonose / Karkonosze biosphere
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
under
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
’s Man and the Biosphere (MaB) programme.
[ (See]
UNESCO brochure
in PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
). Also, 40 hectares of peat bogs were designated a
Ramsar Ramsar may refer to:
* Places so named:
** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran
** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India
* Eponyms of the Iranian city:
** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran
** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...
international wetland site.
Geography
The Karkonosze Mountains are the highest range of the much broader
Sudetes
The Sudetes ( ; pl, Sudety; german: Sudeten; cs, Krkonošsko-jesenická subprovincie), commonly known as the Sudeten Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince in Central Europe, shared by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. They consis ...
mountains
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...
stretching horizontally from south-western Poland along the northern border of the Czech Republic to eastern Germany. Its highest peak is
Śnieżka at above sea level, forming a triangle with (similarly sounding)
Śnieżnik, ,
as well as Ślęża peak, further apart. They are connected by a red hiking trail only for qualified tourists.
The characteristic features of its landscape are the glacial kettles with boulders and ponds hidden inside. Weathered granite rocks shaped like mushrooms or maces can also be found on the mountainsides.
The Krkonose/Karkonosze Mountains are situated on the division of the European
water system
A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following:
# A drainage basin (see water purification – source ...
between the basins of two major rivers – the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
and the
Oder
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows thr ...
– which means that it also separates the basins of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. Many of the Karkonosze's streams come down the hills, creating waterfalls, the largest of which in the Polish part of the mountains (300 m) is created by the Łomniczka stream.
There are about 100 various birds living in the park, the most numerous of animal species living there. In the higher parts of the mountains there are fewer species of them; in the lower levels there are 100 varieties, but in the peaks there are not more than 10. The park has four species of
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
, six species of
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s, and five species of
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
s. The park's attraction are
mouflon
The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian Sea, Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds.
Taxonomy
''Ovis gmelini'' ...
s, brought here at the beginning of the 20th century.
Karkonosze National Park is visited by more than 1.5 million tourists yearly. They can use 112 kilometres of walking paths, 10 ski lifts and 12 guest houses. The park has its headquarters in the town of
Jelenia Góra
Jelenia Góra (pron. ; Polish: ; german: Hirschberg im Riesengebirge; Exonym: ''Deer Mountain''; szl, Jelyniŏ Gōra) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Low ...
.
See also
*
National Parks of Poland
__NOTOC__
There are 23 national parks in Poland. These were formerly run by the Polish Board of National Parks (Polish: ''Krajowy Zarząd Parków Narodowych''), but in 2004 responsibility for them was transferred to the Ministry of the Environmen ...
Gallery
File:Karkonosze - Strzecha Akademicka.jpg, Strzecha Akademicka
File:Karkonoski Park Narodowy – Wodospad Kamieńczyka 02.jpg, Kamieńczyk Waterfall
File:Czarcia Ambona i Śnieżne Stawki.jpg, Czarcia Ambona
File:Czeska Kładka na ścieżce do Schroniska pod Łabskim Szczytem.jpg, Czeska Kładka
File:Ścieżka wśród kosodrzewiny.JPG, Mugo pine
File:Karkonosze - Samotnia - panoramio.jpg, Samotnia mountain chalet
File:Śnieżka z zachodu.jpg, Śnieżka Mountain
File:Karkonosze-Samotnia i Maly Staw.jpg, Mały Staw
File:Czarny Kocioł Jagniątkowski, Karkonosze.jpg, Czarny Kocioł Jagniątkowski
References
External links
Karkonoski National Park official website*
Opera Corcontica
Opera Corcontica - Scientific Journal from the Krkonoše National Park is a Czech Republic-based yearly journal that publishes peer-reviewed, original papers relating to the Giant Mountains range, in the fields of environmental sciences, geography ...
- Scientific Journal from the Krkonoše National Park
{{authority control
National parks of Poland
Biosphere reserves of Poland
Ramsar sites in Poland
Protected areas established in 1959
Sudetes
Parks in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Jelenia Góra
1959 establishments in Poland
Karkonosze County