Polanica-Zdroj

Polanica-Zdrój occupies a narrow floodplain of the Bystrzyca Dusznicka River in south-western Poland, where, at an altitude between 370 and 560 metres above sea level, a community of 6 110 residents (2021 census) maintains a spa tradition that stretches across nearly seven centuries. Encompassing 17.22 square kilometres of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, the town lies eleven kilometres south-west of Kłodzko and eighty-nine kilometres south-west of Wrocław, its mineral springs and verdant surroundings marking it as a distinguished destination in the Kłodzko County.

Polanica-Zdrój’s origins emerge in 1347, when record-keepers of the Kingdom of Bohemia noted a settlement called Heyde under the ownership of the House of Glaubitz. Its early trajectory reflects the shifting allegiances of Silesian lands: after passage through various noble hands, Jesuit proprietors assumed co-ownership in the late sixteenth century, sponsoring the modest village’s initial infrastructural improvements. The worst of the Thirty Years’ War reached Heyde in 1645, when Swedish forces laid waste to its dwellings. Yet, stone rebuilt upon ruin, and by the eighteenth century the settlement found itself annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742. Over the next hundred years, its mineral springs drew increasing attention, culminating in the 1870s when, under the auspices of a newly unified Germany, the springs secured Polanica-Zdrój’s reputation as a health resort of note. A rail link to Glatz (present-day Kłodzko) in 1890 accelerated this transformation, enabling a wider clientele to seek relief in its waters.

Although German authorities styled the town Bad Altheide from 1925—the sole German spa to place “Bad” at the end of its name—a Polish guesthouse continued to operate until 1933, a testament to the region’s enduring linguistic and cultural crossroads. World conflicts imposed further shifts: during both world wars, the town’s sanatoria accommodated military hospitals. In the aftermath of 1945, sovereignty passed to the Republic of Poland. Administrators conferred town rights that same year and elected Kazimierz Dąbrowski as its first post-war mayor. The ecclesiastical map also changed: on 28 June 1972, Roman Catholic parishes transferred from the centuries-old Hradec Králové diocese to the Archdiocese of Wrocław, cementing the town’s place in Poland’s spiritual jurisdiction.

Geologically, Polanica-Zdrój occupies the juncture of the Stołowe and Bystrzyckie mountain ranges and the Kłodzko Valley. Quaternary glaciation left thick fluvial and glacial sediments along the river valleys, while surrounding elevations reveal Upper Cretaceous sandstones that delineate much of the local relief. To the north and centre, the town nestles against the Szczytnik plateau of the Table Mountains, its southern periphery climbing the chain of Bystrzyckie foothills toward Kamienna Góra and the forested slopes of Piekielna Góra. This intricate topography shapes both microclimate and land use, yielding a mosaic of forest and meadow that underpins the area’s biodiversity.

The indigenous vegetation reflects this variety of habitats. Conifers once dominated as spruce monocultures in the montane forests to the west, but recent forestry initiatives have interspersed beech, maple, fir, birch, rowan and larch to create a more resilient canopy. On barren sandstone soils of the Szczytnik area, stands of Scots pine and silver birch persist, while in mixed woodlands larch appears sporadically among native pines. Meadows and clearings host a rich understorey of European globeflowers, colloquially the “Kłodzko rose,” joined in autumn by crocus blooms. In the Piekielna Góra meadows flourish green hellebore, gentian, meadow thistle and bistort, and in the Sokołówka district’s glades orchids variously show off their delicate forms. Throughout town and forest alike, bellflowers, snowdrops and primroses carpet the ground in spring, and lily of the valley thrives beneath the canopy.

The evolution of Polanica-Zdrój’s name traces the region’s layered heritage. The Germanic Heyde, meaning “heath” or “clearing,” appears in the fourteenth-century chronicles. As neighbouring Neu Heyde (modern Polanica Górna) took shape, the original settlement came to be distinguished as Alt Heyde. By the 1870s the emphasis on its therapeutic role spurred the local elite to adopt the moniker Bad Altheide; the formal renaming to Altheide-Bad arrived in 1925, a linguistic inversion unique among German spas. After World War II, Polish authorities initially christened the site Puszczyków Zdrój—a nod to its sylvan character—and designated the railway station Wrześniów. In May 1946 the national Commission for Establishing Names of Localities settled on Polanica Zdrój, and on 7 May of that year the name gained official status.

A sense of enduring memory permeates the town’s monuments and memorials. The Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, erected in 1910 in neo-Baroque style on the site of a seventeenth-century wooden chapel, stands next to the former Jesuit manor—now a convent school—its spire and ornate facades visible from the Spa Park. The park itself dates from 1906, its pathways winding through curated plantings toward the pump room, an Art Nouveau-Classicist structure completed in 1911 that houses a promenade hall where patrons once sipped mineral water. Adjacent lies the Spa Theatre, opened in 1925 and restored in 2010–2011 with European Union funds to accommodate 282 spectators. Beyond these civic anchors, the register of historic monuments encompasses villas, a chapel of St. Anthony in Nowy Wielisław from the eighteenth century, and a variety of sanatoria and hospitals—including the Wielka Pieniawa sanatorium, built in 1906, a gastroenterology hospital dating from the First World War era on Konopnicka Street, and a children’s sanatorium known as the Forest House on Piastowska Street.

The townscape is further enriched by a gallery of sculptures and commemorative plates. A monument to Adam Mickiewicz, sculpted by Władysław Tumkiewicz in 1969 and relocated in 2012, now stands on Ogrodowa Street. Nearby, flags of memory mark events from the 1930s to the post-war period: a stone cross with a figure of Christ recalls nineteenth-century faith; a concrete polar bear in Forest Park commemorates the glacial frontier; a slab honors Sudeten rescuers; plaques record the passage of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in August 1959; and within Sokołówka’s White Sacred Heart monastery, a memorial to St. Damian De Veuster recalls his work among leprosy patients. The Chess Park reflects the town’s intellectual spirit, its pathways lined with “milestones” bearing key dates from the local chronicle. Among more contemporary markers stand tributes to Prof. Heinrich Schlecht, to the centenary of the Wielka Pieniawa spring, and a “Time Capsule” board in the Spa Park that gestures toward the town’s future.

Polanica-Zdrój maintains a calendar of cultural and sporting events that underscores its multifaceted identity. Since 1963 the annual Akiba Rubinstein Memorial chess tournament has drawn grandmasters from across the globe to honor the legacy of the Polish master. The festival POL-8, dedicated to amateur film-making, offers a platform for emerging voices in cinema. In 1995 and again in 1998 the town hosted international conventions of historians and survivors of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, reaffirming its role as a site of remembrance and scholarship.

Transportation links contribute to the town’s accessibility while preserving its tranquil ambience. The non-electrified railway line 309 connects Polanica-Zdrój southward to Kudowa-Zdrój and northward to Wałbrzych, Świdnica, Legnica and Wrocław, with seasonal extensions to Poznań, Bydgoszcz and the Baltic coast. Provincial road 388 threads east–west through the valley, and the European route E67 (national road 8) defines the northern boundary, offering direct carriage to Prague via Hradec Králové and onward to national capitals. A network of county roads serves local inhabitants, linking Sokołówka and outlying villages, while long-distance buses ply routes to Warsaw, Kraków and coastal resorts. In 2015 the town inaugurated its helicopter landing site at Jana Pawła II Street, the highest elevated pad in the country. The nearest fixed-wing airport remains Wrocław-Strachowice Nicolaus Copernicus, a one-hour drive eastward.

Local amenities reflect both health tourism and community life. A football and athletics stadium and two “Orlik” football pitches serve sporting clubs that include football, tennis, chess and aerobics sections. The municipal swimming pool, built between 1932 and 1933 with a water surface of 1 800 square metres, has been closed for years, though smaller indoor pools operate within hotels and guesthouses. Hospitals once linked to the spa tradition continue to specialize in cardiology and gastroenterology, preserving the town’s heritage of therapeutic care.

Demographically, Polanica-Zdrój has witnessed gradual departures from its peak population of 6 354 residents recorded in mid-2018, yet the community remains buoyed by seasonal influxes of visitors seeking its springs, forests and cultural offerings. Its elongated urban footprint, rising from the riverbank through a series of terraces to the forested ridges above, embodies a landscape of contrasts—of water and rock, plain and mountain, past and present.

Through the centuries, Polanica-Zdrój has stood at the crossroads of empires and ideologies, yet it now endures as a place of repose and reflection, where mineral springs bubble beneath the gaze of sandstone cliffs and forest paths beckon across gentle inclines. In every engraved plaque and in every rustling tree, the town’s story is written anew: the record of human endeavour set against the unhurried rhythms of the Central European highlands. Here, the quiet pageantry of nature and the measured rituals of healing continue to define the town’s character, uniting past and present in a dialogue that neither fades into nostalgia nor rushes toward spectacle, but remains ever attentive to the subtle art of place.