Kadzielnia Reserve

Kadzielnia was a limestone hill inside Kielce that was quarried from the eighteenth century until 1962, leaving a deep pit with a single rock pinnacle standing in the middle of it - Skalka Geologow, the geologists' rock, which was left as a monument to what was removed. The rock is Devonian reef limestone and the exposed faces are full of fossil coral and stromatoporoids, which is why the walls became a nature reserve while the pit became a public space: an amphitheatre of about seven thousand seats was built in the bottom in the 1970s and is still used for concerts. Under the rim is a system of about twenty-five caves, of which several were connected and opened in 2012 as an underground route with lighting and walkways. Around it is a park with viewing platforms. It is a straightforward and unusually good example of a quarry given back to a city.

What you actually see

• A pinnacle left standing - the geologists' rock in the middle of the worked-out pit.
• Devonian reef fossils - coral and stromatoporoids in the exposed quarry faces.
• An amphitheatre in the pit - about seven thousand seats, still used for concerts.
• An underground route - caves under the rim connected and opened in 2012.

When to go

April to October. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

The cave route is charged and runs on timed entry. Concert days close parts of the site. The pit is exposed with little shade. It is a city reserve, not wilderness.

Nearby

Kielce city centre is north; Raj cave and Checiny are south-west.