The Roztocze

There are few places in Poland that would match the pure beauty of the largely undiscovered Roztocze region where nature has not yielded to the progress of civilisation. This is a fairly narrow stretch of hilly land that is 20 km in width and 185 km in length and extends from Krasnik to Lvov. Given its topographical diversity, the Roztocze is divided into three parts: Western, Central, and Eastern, also called Southern.

The Western Roztocze - mostly loessial and with the highest peak rising up to 344 m - is a forested terrain indented with deep gorges and covered with meadows and grazing lands on fairly steep hill slopes. Some gorges are a few kilometres long and over 20 metres deep. The desire to preserve this topographical diversity and natural wealth has resulted in the establishment of the Szczebrzeszyn Landscape Park.

The Central Roztocze - built of lime and sandstone with Wapielnia (387 metres) as its highest peak - is even more varied in topographical structure. Ranges of limestone hills are covered with fabulous forests and a patchwork of arable land that intermingles with picturesque river valleys. Numerous monadnock hills are a characteristic feature of the area on which the Roztocze National Park and Krasnobrod Landscape Park have been established.

The Eastern Roztocze - retaining much of its primeval character - offers a wide variety of topographical forms including humps, plateaux, rolling hills, gorges, ravines and valleys. The most characteristics are monadnocks that have resisted erosion and now constitute isolated hills or ranges reaching up to 395 metres (e.g. Wielki Dzial or the Great Divide and Kr^gty Gorap. Large forested areas that cover the land feature a wide variety of upland vegetation including Dentaria glandulosa and Wild Garlic. The region is also famous for fragments of fossilised Miocene trees whose age has been estimated at 13-14 million years. Local wooden Orthodox churches of unique charm located off the beaten track add to this peaceful and tranquil countryside.

In order to preserve the beauty of the area, the Southern Roztocze Landscape Park has been established in this part of the region.