Historic sites
a former secret uranium mine from communist times, now a route with an underground exhibition of glowing uranium glass
Historic sites
a former fluorite and uranium mine, today a 1,200-metre underground route with a Cold War history
a pseudo-Gothic palace from the 16th century surrounded by a park with exotic trees, today a holiday home
Historic sites in Kowary are two former uranium mines and a palace from the 16th century. See what lies underground and what stands in Radociny.
The Podgórze Mine is a former uranium ore mine, active in 1950-1958. It was the only one in Kowary built entirely after the Second World War and belonged to the Kowary Mines enterprise, later renamed Industrial Works R-1. Under communism its work was secret. Today it is an underground route with an exhibition of glowing uranium glass, good in bad weather too.
The Liczyrzepa Mine has a longer history. It worked as a fluorite mine in 1850-1858, uranium was spotted here already in the 19th century and larger deposits were found later. Since 2000 it has been a guided tourist route through the preserved workings, showing the turbulent history of mining in this area.
The Radociny Palace stands in the Kowary district of the same name, in the Jelenia Góra Valley at the foot of the Karkonosze. It was built around 1570 as a knight's residence, and its present pseudo-Gothic look comes from a rebuild in 1861. In 1913 it was modernised again, and in the 1960s a holiday centre was set up inside. It is a holiday home today, so check before you go whether the interiors are open.
More ideas: Kowary attractions, the Kowary solo page and the historic sites of the whole region.
