Magura National Park Education and Museum Centre, Krempna

The Jan Szafrański Education and Museum Centre (Ośrodek Edukacyjno-Muzealny MPN im. Jana Szafrańskiego) in Krempna is the main museum and tourist "gateway" of Magura National Park in the heart of the Low Beskids. The centre is named after Jan Szafrański, who directed the park from 1995 to 2011. The modern building with its large glazed gables was designed by the Rzeszów architectural studio Archicomp, winner of a 1999 competition; the museum opened on 3 June 2005.

Magura National Park was created in 1995 on the border of the Małopolskie and Podkarpackie voivodeships. It covers the upper Wisłoka basin and the Magura Wątkowska range, and more than 90% of its area is forested. The park is considered a key ecological "bridge" between the Western and Eastern Carpathians: it is a transition zone where plants and animals of both parts of the mountains meet. To the south, across the border, it adjoins the Slovak protected landscape area "Eastern Carpathians".

The museum's exhibition introduces exactly this nature. The lower parts of the park, up to about 530 m, form the foothill belt with pine stands, meadows, pastures and peat bogs; higher up lies the lower montane belt with natural beech forests mixed with fir and sycamore, rare in the Carpathians. The highest peak of the park is Wątkowa (846 m). Almost 800 plant species and about 200 species of vertebrates have been recorded in the park; three areas – Magura Wątkowska, Kamień and Zimna Woda – are under strict protection, and the Kornuty rocks are a nature reserve.

What to see

• The main exhibition hall with a half-hour multimedia nature show about the animals and plants of the Low Beskids.
• Dioramas of the seasons, showing how forest life changes over the year.
• An interactive exhibition on three corridor levels of the building, for exploring on your own.
• A nature room for workshops and a reading room with nature literature; around the centre there is a teaching garden.

The centre runs classes for school groups and seasonal workshops (for an extra fee), as well as park lectures and events. You can also buy tickets for the park's trails here, including the personal season ticket.

Practical information

Krempna lies in the Wisłoka valley in the south of Podkarpackie; the easiest way is by car via Nowy Żmigród, and there is parking by the centre. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from May to October and on weekdays only in winter; a ticket to the main hall costs 20 zł. Visitors see the exhibition only together with a member of park staff, so allow about an hour. From May to October a separate ticket is required for walking the park's marked trails. After the museum it is easy to head straight into the forest: footpaths start right in Krempna. Mind the weather: the area gets 800–900 mm of rain a year, most of it in July, and in autumn and winter strong local winds known as the Dukla winds blow here.

Nearby: trails and peaks

The Bartne – Krempna route starts at the centre and leads through the park's forests to the Lemko village of Bartne, where you should look into the Church Museum of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bartne. The Filipovske Sedlo – Folusz route also passes through Krempna, and a few kilometres away runs the Main Trail of Beskidy. The Kornuty rock reserve, one of the best-known natural sites of the park, is reached by the Chatka w Nieznajowej – Kornuty route.

Official website: mpn.gov.pl

Photos: Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Zorro2212, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Mzungu, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.