Warsaw Quarry (Kamieniołom Warszawski)

Pale rock walls in the middle of a Jura forest look like a western film set – and a western was indeed shot here. But the name of the Warsaw Quarry (Kamieniołom Warszawski) in Siedlec comes from something else: the limestone cut here, regarded as the whitest in Poland, was used after the war to clad the Sejm, Poland's parliament building, and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw. Today it is a disused quarry in the Janów municipality, a few kilometres from Złoty Potok, of interest to geologists, photographers and walkers.

History: white stone for the capital

The quarry was rediscovered in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Warsaw was being rebuilt after the war. The architect Bohdan Pniewski, chief designer of the Sejm building, was looking for white limestone for the facade, and the stone from Siedlec turned out to be the palest available. Jan Zawistowski, who supervised the construction of the Sejm, recalled that the contractor was reluctant to restart quarrying – the railway was far away and the roads were poor. Even so, slabs from Siedlec clad the walls of the Sejm and the Chancellery today; some accounts also mention the Dom Chłopa hotel. The quarry has long been out of use.

What you will see

The quarry sits near the top of a wooded hill at about 374 m above sea level. Its walls expose Upper Jurassic limestone – heavily fractured, with many flint nodules and signs of karst weathering. Geologists are particularly interested in it because it is a detrital limestone made of intraclasts, fragments of older rock. A sharp eye will spot fossils: sponges and their spicules, corals, ammonites, brachiopods and bivalves. The quarry floor is a flat expanse of white limestone rubble, while pines and shrubs are reclaiming the edges.

Interesting facts

• The quarry appeared in the Polish-American western "Summer Love" ("Letnia miłość") by Piotr Uklański, starring Val Kilmer, Bogusław Linda and Katarzyna Figura.
• Stone from a Jura village became part of Poland's most important seats of power – hence the "Warsaw" name right in the middle of the Jura.

Tripto tip

The quarry is on private land, but access is not forbidden, and a hiking trail from Siedlec to Ostrężnik runs through it. This is not a prepared tourist site: there are no railings or facilities. A walk takes 30–60 minutes; keep away from the edges of the walls, do not climb the fractured rock, and wear sturdy shoes, as the rubble can be slippery. Leave the car in the village without blocking forest tracks and walk up along the trail. Nearby are the ruins of the Ostrężnik watchtower and Ostrężnicka Cave, Na Dupce Cave (about 1.3 km), the Siedlec Desert sand area (about 5 km) and Złoty Potok with Twardowski's Gate and the Wiercica springs.