Physics Experience Park, Ogrodzieniec

Turn a crank and watch the water in a spinning globe form a funnel, step onto a rotating platform, then strap into a rollover simulator to feel what happens to your body in an overturning car. The Physics Experience Park in Podzamcze is an open-air display of 47 devices where you test the laws of physics with your own hands. It lies at the foot of the Ogrodzieniec Castle ruins and is one part of the family-oriented Park Ogrodzieniec complex.

How it works

Every station has to be set in motion by you – pull, spin, shout or peer inside. The devices stand outdoors, so a visit feels like a walk from one experiment to the next. School-age children catch on fastest, but adults enjoy many of the stations just as much – for example the acoustic telegraph, through which you can talk to someone at a distance.

What you can try

The operator's list includes:

• a flight simulator and a rollover simulator – the biggest and busiest attractions,
• optics: distorting mirrors, two parallel mirrors, a kaleidoscope and a giant kaleidoscope, a periscope, a prism, a diffraction grating, Benham's disc and a Mach disc,
• sound: tubular bells, gongs, stone cymbals, panpipes, an acoustic telegraph and sound focusing,
• motion and balance: Newton's cradle, three pendulums, two coupled swings, large and small rotating platforms, a rope balance beam, a resonating footbridge and carts on rails,
• water and vortices: a water vortex, water in a spinning sphere and a Cartesian diver,
• active play: a maze, a "hamster wheel", magic skittles and a PIN-ART wall that takes the imprint of a hand or face.

Interesting facts

The Cartesian diver is an experiment first described in 1648: a small figure in a bottle sinks or rises when you squeeze the container, because the volume of air inside it changes. Benham's disc is a black-and-white wheel that shows pale colours when spun – the colours are not on the disc but are created in the viewer's retina and visual cortex. Read the signs next to the devices, as some effects are easy to miss without them.

Tickets and hours (as of October 2026)

The operator's 2026 price list:

• Physics Experience Park: PLN 25 adult, PLN 19 "child" ticket, PLN 79 family ticket (parents with 2–5 children),
• Physics Park + Amusement Park: PLN 35 / 69 / 179,
• Package ticket (Miniature Park, House of Horrors, Physics Park, Amusement Park): PLN 75 / 70 / 239.

The "child" ticket also covers pupils and students up to 25, people with disabilities and pensioners. Children under 3 go free, and under-12s must be accompanied by an adult. Animals are not allowed. In September and October the park opens on weekdays 10:00–16:00 (on October weekdays it admits organised groups – call ahead) and at weekends and on holidays 10:00–18:00. In November it opens only at weekends and on holidays, 11:00–16:00. In bad weather it may close – the operator asks visitors to call +48 606 669 742 first.

Tripto tip

Allow 1–1.5 hours for all the stations, longer with children. The complex is at ul. Zamkowa 33 in Podzamcze (Ogrodzieniec municipality); the nearest larger town is Zawiercie. After the experiments, visit the Ogrodzieniec Castle ruins or walk over to the reconstructed stronghold on Góra Birów.