Visit Kielce!

Een bericht van onze Poolse vrienden van handbal club Kielce:

Dear Handball Friends,
You are reading a message from Kielce Handball club, finalist of the last two editions of the EHF Champions League,
and multiple Polish champion in handball.
We are very pleased to invite your Club’s fans to matches in Kielce. For organized groups (minimum 5 people) we have free
tickets for matches at Hala Legionów! If you want to visit Kielce, please write e-mail to Wiktoria Stępniewska at
w.stepniewska@kielcehandball.pl.
See you in Kielce!

Kielce does not only host our handball club, but we also have many tourist attractions in the area:

1. Kadzielnia
   The exploitation of stone in Kadzielnia stopped in 1962, when an inanimate nature reserve was created there. It is situated in
   the city centre. The reserve’s rocks were formed in warm, shallow sea where 350 million years ago coral reef was bustling
   with life. In the former quarry, the most beautifully located amphitheatre in Poland with 5.000 seats is situated. In the walls
   of the excavation there are 26 caves, some of which were open to visitors in 2010. Taking an underground route one can
   observe fossils of animals and plants. Several years ago, opposite the so-called Geologists’ Rock, Moses Tables were placed,
   a symbol of multicultural character of the Świętokrzyskie Region.

2. Karczówka
   Karczówka is a hill situated in the Kadzielniański Mountain Range. A landscape nature reserve was established here in 1957,
   protecting a part of a 180-year-old forest. In the past, silver and lead ores were mined here. At the top of the hill, there is a
   Bernardine monastery with St. Charles of Borromeo Church erected in the first half of the 17th century as a thanksgiving for
   saving the city from a plague. The stairs with beautiful railings and gates made of red and grey sandstone designed by
   Kacper Bażanka, lead to the church. Inside the temple there is a Chapel of St. Barbara with an interesting figure of the
   miners’ patron in the altar. It was made of a block of galena from a lead ore, which was probably excavated near the
   Karczówka Hill. In the courtyard of the monas- tery there is one of the many chakras in the Świętokrzyskie Region.

3. Museum of Toys and Play
   The Museum of Toys and Play was established in Kielce in 1979. It is the largest and the oldest museum of this kind in
   Poland. The area of 631 square metres houses several thousands exhibits. You can see dolls from all over the world, folk
   toys, plane, car and ship models and an electric train. The most valuable part of the exhibition comprises historic toys from
   the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries – dolls, tin soldiers, doll houses, projectors with slides and building blocks.
   There are interesting permanent exhibitions, a playroom and a library. In the courtyard open-air events are organized for the
   youngest. The museum is located in a historic building from the 19th century, former market halls. Every day at midday, a
   witch made by A. Latos and assembled by clockmaker B. Komorowski comes out from the clock tower.

4. The Botanical Garden
   The Botanical Garden in Kielce is located on the south-eastern slopes of Karczówka Mountain (339 m above sea level) at the
   junction of Karczówkowska and Jagiellońska Streets. The axis of the garden compex is the historic Karczówkowska street,
   with brick stations of the Way of the Cross.
   From the west side, it is adjacent to the oldest landscape and forest reserve Karczówka in Kielce and the Chęcińsko- Kielecki
   Landscape Park – the first Polish geological park. From the higher parts of the garden, there is a view of the city and the
   nearby ranges of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, with the Dymińskie Ridge on the first plan. The Botanical Garden in Kielce
   is divided into three parts: the first one is accessible to the public, the second one with administrative and didactic buildings
   and the third largest eare located.