Seven Secret Wonders of Poland

ilovepoland.co.uk/seven_secret_wonders_of_poland.htm

Disapointed that salt mines at Wieliczka were not included in this list;

Can anyone tell me when the 'dwarves' were introduced in Wrocław ?

These dwarfs must be something new.
I agree that Wieliczka would be much more interesting to a visitor.

Wieliczka is a wonder, where does all the money from the salt mine go?.
Wieliczka is a very poor area, other neighbouring towns are prospering but Wieliczka, with it's salt mines, has not progressed at all.
The wonder is where does all the money go???

I think that the salt mine itself isn't that cheap to maintain.

maybe the word 'secret' is the key and they put on the list only less known things

Yeah but the salt mine is one of the most visited places in Poland.
it is not cheap and it is always full but the local council can't put the money to good use.
I have had the displeasure of going to the offices in Wieliczka, it was amazing, like a prison.
The people working there were unhappy/unhelpful but I am not surprised because of the conditions they are subjected to.
I have also gone to the local council in neighbouring Niepolomice, a completely different world, possibly the nicest town hall i have ever had the pleasure of going to in any country.

The people reflected this and are very helpful.


That makes a lot of sence.

What a nice treat, thank you.

Excellent post

I will openly confess that the website ilovepoland.co.uk is my own and crafted by my own fair hands (which is why the design of it is pretty crap !).

You're right McCoy. I wanted to compile a list of less well known attractions in Poland (even Elblag was pushing it a little).

Wieliczka is VERY well know and so didn't make the list.

To the mods-I hope I was ok posting a link to one of my own sites ?

This is what I was thinking at first, but when you included Kosciuszko Mound in Krakow then I felt you should have included Wieliczka also :o)

My wife, who is from Wrocław, but has been living in London for the past 9 years can't remember the dwarves; were they introduced quite recently?

Just found this on the internet ....

"They appeared on the streets of the city in August 2005. Their history is connected with the Orange Alternative movement and the year 1982. It is then that some dwarfs with funny hats and smiling faces were painted as a graffiti covering anti-Communist slogans. The present day dwarfs are statues sculpted by Tomasz Moczek, graduate of the local Fine Arts Academy. There are as many as five dwarfs in the city. Each of the dwarfs has a name, e.g. Dwarf the Sleepyhead in sw. Mikolaja Street or Dwarf the Butcher in Jatki Street."

source : wroclawbyme.blogspot.com/2007/04/dwarfs-of-wroclaw.html

Exactly, although only secret in so much as Western tourists are concerned. In my opinion Wieliczka is well known outside out Poland whereas Kosciuszko Mound is well known amongst Poles but not so much with people from outside the country

7 world wonders of Nature (The Mazurian Lakes among them)

Mazurian Lakes makes it into the " 7 World wonders of Nature"

new7wonders.com/en/

Get voting for Poland.

new7wonders.com/community/en/new7wonders/new7wonders_of_nature/masurian_lake_district

i seem to remember a whole bunch of forum members voting for this a year or two ago.

Now The mazurian lakes have been voted to the finalists, find a link below.

SMS-owe i telefoniczne potrwa do 11 listopada 2011 r., kiedy to poznamy siódemkę najpiękniejszych miejsc na świecie.

dziennikturystyczny.pl/2010/12/akcja-"tuba-oddaj-glos-na-mazury"-juz-dzis

It's very beautiful.

But not many people would agree it's one of the 7 most beautiful areas in the world. For example, the lake district in UK is more beautiful.

However, it's a nice PR-thing. I recommend people to visit the area.

It started in 2001 when the statue for Orange Alternative movement was erected:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Alternative

And as you've already found out, the little guys started to pop out since 2005.
Anyway, dwarfs hunting goes well with kids, here is the map:
krasnale.pl/mapa

I wouldn't put it to the wonder list but nevertheless it is a nice outcome of one of the opposition movements legends and some individual feature for quite fine city.