Karkonosze National Park

Karkonosze National Park
Karkonoski Park Narodowy
IUCN category II (national park)
View from Szrenica towards the West
Park logo with Karkonosze
Location	Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
Area	55.76 km2 (21.53 sq mi)
Established	1959
Governing body	Ministry of the Environment

The Karkonosze National Park (Polish: Karkonoski Park Narodowy) is a National Park in the Karkonosze (Czech: Krkonoše) Mountains in southwestern Poland, along the border with the Czech Republic.

The park is located in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in the highest part of the Sudetes. It was created in 1959 to cover an area of 55.10 km². Today it is slightly larger at 55.76 km² (21.53 sq mi), of which 17.18 km² is strictly protected. The majority of the park area, around 33.80 km², consists of forests. In 1992 Karkonosze National Park, together with the neighbouring Czech National Park, became part of the Krkonose / Karkonosze biosphere reserve under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MaB) programme. Also, 40 hectares of peat bogs were designated a Ramsar international wetland site.

The Karkonosze Mountains are the highest range of the much broader Sudetes mountains stretching horisontally from south-western Poland along the northern border of the Czech Republic to eastern Germany. Its highest peak is Śnieżka at 1,602 metres (5,256 ft) above sea level, forming a triangle with (similarly sounding) Śnieżnik, 1,424 metres (4,672 ft), as well as Ślęża peak, further apart. They are connected by a red hiking trail only for qualified tourists. Śnieżka is unique in its rounded, treeless cap, which stands in sharp contrast to other, lower peaks.