Cistercian Landscape Compositions of Rudy Wielkie Landscape Park

The ponds, dykes, forests and road layout around Rudy are largely the work of monks who arrived here in 1258. The Cistercian Landscape Compositions of Rudy Wielkie Landscape Park protects not only nature but also a landscape designed by Cistercians, an unusual combination that makes it one of the most interesting parks in Silesia. Covering 493.87 km², it is among the largest landscape parks in Poland.

A landscape laid out by Cistercians

A community of, traditionally, twelve monks and an abbot came to Rudy from Jędrzejów in Lesser Poland. The foundation charter was issued by Duke Władysław of Opole, which is why the village was first called Władysławowo. The abbey soon became an intellectual and economic centre of Silesia. The Cistercians created fish ponds, mills and forges, and shaped the land according to the rules of their orderly spirituality; part of that layout survives today. The park also preserves remains of an 18th-century Cistercian copper forge at Ruda Kozielska, a former iron-ore mine at Trachy and ironworks from the 16th to 19th centuries.

The park in numbers

The park was created on 23 November 1993, and since 2000 it has been managed by the Silesian Landscape Parks authority. It covers part of Racibórz, the north of Rybnik and over a dozen municipalities, including Kuźnia Raciborska, Nędza and Sośnicowice. Forests cover about 57% of the area, mostly pine. There are more than 270 bodies of water: fish ponds, the Gzel, Pniowiec and Grabownia reservoirs, and the basin of the park's only natural forest lake in Biadacz forest. The main rivers are the Ruda, Sumina and Bierawka.

What to see

• The former Cistercian abbey and palace complex in Rudy, with its basilica and one of the largest English-style landscape parks in Poland.
• The "Cysters" oak in the abbey park, around 500 years old with a girth of 7.5 m.
• Łężczok Nature Reserve, created in 1957 (477 ha), with old Cistercian ponds where more than 190 bird species have been recorded, including bittern, greylag goose and red-crested pochard; it is also home to the "Sobieski" oak.
• The narrow-gauge railway on the Bytom Karb – Markowice Raciborskie line, part of Silesia's Industrial Monuments Route.
• Wooden churches in Wilcza, Bełk and Rybnik-Wielopole on the regional Wooden Architecture Route.

Did you know?

Łężczok is a wetland whose protection falls under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. The Raczok stream and the stream from Przegędza hold the park's only stable population of the noble crayfish. More than 70 trees in the park and its buffer zone are protected as natural monuments.

Tripto tip

The park has no single entrance or ticket; start in Rudy, where the park runs an education centre, then pick a nature trail or cycling route. Individual visits to the former abbey were most recently listed as daily from 12:00 to 17:00, with exceptions during fairs and holidays, so check the abbey's website before you go. Allow 2–3 hours for Rudy with the abbey and park, or a whole day if you add Łężczok and some cycling. Birdlife is richest in spring and autumn; in summer bring mosquito repellent.