Lapidarium in Podlesice

At the foot of Góra Zborów, a few steps from the Heritage Centre of the Jura in Podlesice, an open-air collection of stone witnesses to the history of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland has been laid out. Each block has an information board, so a walk between them turns into a practical geology lesson — no lecture halls and no tickets.

Limestones from the sea floor

The core of the display consists of Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) limestone blocks formed in a shallow sea about 163–157 million years ago — the geological period from which the whole region takes its name. Two blocks show the effects of the karst processes typical of the Jura: holes, passages and niches — miniature versions of the rock towers that shape the local landscape.

Visitors from the deep Earth and from the north

Next to the Jurassic rocks stand older ones: a block of Devonian dolomite and Permian igneous rock, plus sandy limestones of the Middle Jurassic. The biggest impression is made by a granite erratic boulder — carried onto the Jura by the Scandinavian ice sheet in the Pleistocene, hundreds of kilometres from its parent rocks.

In practice

The lapidarium is accessible around the clock, all year round, and the car park at the foot of Góra Zborów is free. It is worth combining the visit with a climb of Zborów and a trip to the Głęboka Cave. The Trail of the Eagles' Nests is close by: 4.8 km to the castle in Bobolice, 5.6 km to the Okiennik Wielki rock and 13.6 km to Ogrodzieniec Castle.