Petrified City Nature Reserve, Ciężkowice

Local legend says a town once stood in the forest above the Biała river, and its inhabitants were turned to stone for their wicked ways. Instead of houses there are now sandstone rocks shaped like mushrooms, towers and pulpits, up to 14 metres high – with names that tell their own story: the Witch, the Town Hall, the Pyramids, the Alligator, Paderewski's Tower. The Petrified City (Skamieniałe Miasto) reserve begins a few hundred metres from the market square in Ciężkowice.

How the rocks formed

The rocks are made of coarse-grained Ciężkowice sandstones and conglomerates, laid down on the floor of the Tethys Ocean some 58–48 million years ago. After the Ice Age, weathering picked out the most resistant parts, while rockfalls and landslides shifted some blocks and tilted them. The process continues – the rocks are still changing. Layering and sedimentary structures are easy to see in the rock faces, which makes the reserve a textbook example of Carpathian geology.

History of protection

Before the Second World War the rocks stood on treeless common pasture, and there were quarries in places – the stone was used for railway embankments and houses. In 1931 they were declared a natural monument, and in 1974 a reserve was created. It covers 15.11 ha and consists of one large and 11 smaller enclaves stretching from the floor of the Biała valley to the top of Skała hill (367 m). A buffer zone was added in 2019. The whole area lies within the Ciężkowice-Rożnów Landscape Park.

What to see

• The Witch and the Town Hall – two rocks above the Biała across the road, reached by a footbridge over the carriageway.
• Grunwald – a large rock by the road, named for the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, in which seven knights from the area fought.
• The Badger Group, with the Eagle, the Mushrooms, the Fungus and Little Hell, followed by the Little Mushroom, the Pyramids, the Alligator, the Hermitage, the Gypsy and Paderewski's Tower, named after the composer whose manor stands across the river in Kąśna Dolna.
• The Rock with the Cross, beyond which the trail descends into the Ciężkowice Gorge – one of the deepest in the Carpathian foothills – and the Witches' Waterfall.

Nature

The forest is dominated by pine with oak, mixed with lime, hornbeam and fir. Protected orchids and clubmosses grow here, and the rocks host 83 species of lichen, 16 of them rare in Poland. Small caves and rock shelters provide roosts for bats – the greater mouse-eared bat and the lesser horseshoe bat. In summer you may spot the swallowtail or the stag beetle.

Tripto tip

Visits start from the car park about 1 km from the square, on the Tarnów–Ciężkowice–Gorlice road. The blue trail runs through the reserve, and there is a glade with benches and tables at the Scouts' Gorge. Allow 1.5–2 hours for a loop taking in the rocks, gorge and waterfall, and wear shoes with good grip – the paths are slippery after rain. Climbing and bouldering are prohibited. Check at the entrance whether an admission ticket is required. Afterwards you can relax in the spa park in Ciężkowice or try the treetop walk in the hamlet of Rakutowa, about 2.5 km from the square.