The Stołowe Mountains National Park (), anglicized to Table Mountains National Park, is a national park in south-western

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 ...

. It comprises the Polish section of the Table Mountains (''Góry Stołowe''), also known as the Table Mountains in English, which are part of the Sudetes range. It is located in

Kłodzko County __NOTOC__ Kłodzko County ( pl, powiat kłodzki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local govern ...

of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, at 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 ...

. Created in 1993, the park covers an area of , of which forests accounts for 57.79 km². The area of strict protection is 3.76 km².

History

The landscape of Table Mountains began to form 70 million years ago. The range's unique shape is a result of hundreds of thousands of years of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

. There are several notable rock formations, among them ''Kwoka'' ("Hen"), ''Wielblad'' ("Camel") and ''Glowa wielkoluda'' ("Giant’s head"). Also, there is a sophisticated system of corridors which creates rock labyrinths. Currently plant life is mostly made up of spruce, which was introduced to the area on the turn of the 19th century to replace pristine beech and fir forests, which had been cut. Natural woodland is scarce and covers only around 3% of the forested areas. There are

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

bogs, one of which (area 393,000 m²) was listed as a strictly protected area in 1959. In the forested areas of the park there are

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

, wild pig, squirrels,

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

s, many

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s and reptiles including lizards and adders.

Flora

The characteristic flora of the Great Peatbog Batorowski, one of the few raised peat bogs in Poland, is represented by species such as marsh pine, marsh or ordinary heater. This peatbog has been subject to strict protection since 1958, and unfortunately visitors to the Table Mountains National Park are not allowed on these sites.

Inhabitation

The history of the Table Mountains is closely connected with the history of the

Kłodzko Kłodzko (; cz, Kladsko; german: Glatz; la, Glacio) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko ...

region, located on the borderland of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, Bohemia and

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

. After Hussite wars of the 14th and 15th century, the area thrived and later on first spas at Kudowa, Duszniki and Polanica were opened. Duszniki is also a center of

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

production – one of the first paper mills in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

was opened there in 1605.

Gallery

File:SzczeliniecWielki.jpg, "Hell" File:Błędne Skały.jpg, Errand Rocks () File:Sudety-1-32.jpg, View of Szczeliniec Wielki File:Szczeliniec Wielki @.jpg, "Ape" on Szczeliniec Wielki File:Widok ze Szczelińca 01.JPG, Szczeliniec Wielki File:Skalne Baszty1.JPG, Rock towers () File:Skalne grzyby.jpg, Rock mushrooms () File:Ścieżka przyrodnicza Niknąca Łąka.jpg, Vanishing meadow () File:Sudety-1-55.jpg, A panorama of the Sudety Mountains File:Szczeliniec wielki taras wisnia6522.jpg, An observation deck on top of Szczeliniec Wielki File:Na Szczelińcu Wielkim 4.jpg, A rock formation in the park File:2015 Góry Stołowe, świerk i głaz 01.jpg, A boulder and spruce in the National Park

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolowe Mountains National Park National parks of Poland Protected areas established in 1993 Parks in Lower Silesian Voivodeship 1993 establishments in Poland