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Magura National Park ( pl, Magurski Park Narodowy) is a National Park located in the south-east of
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 populou ...
, close to
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, on the boundary of Lesser Poland Voivodeship and
Subcarpathian Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship or Subcarpathia Province (in pl, Województwo podkarpackie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshall, it i ...
. It covers the main part of the upper basin of the
Wisłoka The Wisłoka is a river in south-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Vistula river, with a length of and a basin area of . The highest elevations reach an elevation of , while the lowest point in the valley of the river Wisłoka lies at an ele ...
river. When the park was created in 1995 it covered 199.62 km2, although it is now only , of which 185.31 km2 is forest. The park takes its name from the
massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...
known as ''Magura Wątkowska'', after Wątkowa, its highest peak. ''Magura'' is also the name of the second-highest peak of this massif.


The landscape

Magurski National Park's landscape is typical of the
Beskid Niski The Low Beskids ( sk, Nízke Beskydy) or Central Beskids ( pl, Beskidy Środkowe; cs, Centrální Beskydy; uk, Центральні Бескиди) are a mountain range in southeastern Poland and northeastern Slovakia. They constitute a middle ...
ridge and consists mainly of heavily forested low and medium peaks. The park features fancifully sculpted rocks. The huge Devil's Rock wrapped in mystery is the most prominent among these rock formations. The main part of the park consists of the Magura Wątkowska massif, with its highest peak Wątkowa at above sea level. Other significant hills are Magura (842 m), Wielka Góra (719 m) and Nad Tysowym (713 m). The
Wisłoka The Wisłoka is a river in south-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Vistula river, with a length of and a basin area of . The highest elevations reach an elevation of , while the lowest point in the valley of the river Wisłoka lies at an ele ...
river and its tributaries are some of the most important elements of the park. The Wisłoka is a typical mountain river, which creates picturesque ravines and frequently changes its course. The Kornuty nature reserve is located at the heart of the park, protecting the constellations of its fancifully sculpted sandstones. Their unusual shapes are due to erosion. The rocks conceal numerous fracture caves, including the best known Mroczna urkyCave, whose corridors are 200 metres long.


Flora and fauna

Plant life is of a transitional character and reflects the park's location - between the Eastern and Western
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
. The majority of the park is forest. Spruce is not frequent here, which means that the woodland is for the most part natural. Animal life is very rich in the park - there are 137
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of birds, including several
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
such as the
eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
and eagle-owl as well as the stork. There are also 35 endangered mammal species including the
brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...
(they roam back and forth between
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 populou ...
and
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
), lynx,
wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...
,
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
and otter. One can also find
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 ...
, snakes,
salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...
and numerous
insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...
. It is estimated that within the park there are 200 species of endangered animals.


Human settlement

The oldest trace of human settlement in this area are remains of a stronghold at Brzezowa, on the Walik mountain. It was part of the system of strongholds built by the Wislanie tribe in the 9th century on the Southern border of their lands. Also, one can find small, wooden
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
churches, which were built by the eastern Slavic
Lemkos Lemkos ( rue, Лeмкы, translit= Lemkŷ; pl, Łemkowie; uk, Лемки, translit=Lemky) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region ( rue, Лемковина, translit=Lemkovyna; uk, Лемківщина, translit=Lemkivshchyna) of Car ...
. Unfortunately, some of these buildings are ruined. In one of the farmers’ huts, at the village of Kolonia Olchowiec, there is a small, private museum of Lemko culture. There are also numerous cemeteries from
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, as this area was for a long time a battleground between the Russian and Austro-German armies. A tragic reminder of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
is the cemetery of 1250
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, who were killed by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
in 1942 at the Halbów pass. The park has its headquarters in the village of
Krempna Krempna ( uk, Крампна, ''Krampna'') is a village in Jasło County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Krempna. It lies a ...
.


References

{{authority control National parks of Poland Protected areas established in 1995 Protected areas of the Eastern Carpathians Parks in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Parks in Podkarpackie Voivodeship 1995 establishments in Poland Gorlice County