Tatra National Park Nature Education Centre

The Tatra National Park Nature Education Centre (Centrum Edukacji Przyrodniczej TPN) is a modern natural history museum on the edge of Zakopane, on Chałubińskiego Street, which most visitors use on their way to Kuźnice and Morskie Oko. It belongs to the Tatra National Park (TPN), and admission to its main exhibition is free. It opened in 1984 as the TPN Natural History Museum; its creators included the noted Tatra researchers Witold Paryski and Mieczysław Klimaszewski. The main theme of the original exhibition was Tatra nature and the history of its protection. In 2004 the museum was turned into a nature education centre, and in 2015–2017, thanks to the Norway Grants and European Union funds, the building was extended and a new multimedia exhibition was installed.

The centre also houses the Zofia Radwańska-Paryska and Witold Henryk Paryski Tatra Documentation Centre — a library and archive that took over the Paryski couple's collection: several tens of thousands of books, journals, maps, photographs and postcards about the Tatras.

What to see

• Poland's largest model of the Tatras — a detailed model of the mountains onto which multimedia presentations are projected, with a narrator's commentary. It is the easiest way to understand where the valleys, ridges and peaks are before setting off on a trail.
• Cinema rooms showing films of the Tatras through the eyes of their wild inhabitants — bears, marmots and chamois, with natural sounds.
• Dioramas — three-dimensional scenes of a Tatra meadow and forest in which the animals themselves "tell the story"; they also show how people affect nature. This makes them easy to understand for adults and children alike, and the main message is simple: the balance of nature must be protected.
• A cave — cool, with water seeping down the walls, resembling a real Tatra underground: here you learn who lives in caves and why they matter.
• The Discovery Room (Sala Odkryć) for children aged 7–14: computer games on map reading, recognising animal calls, Kinect games where you can jump like a chamois or run like a deer, interactive tables with natural specimens and stereoscopes.

Practical information

The centre stands on Chałubińskiego Street, about 1.5 km from Krupówki and a few minutes' walk from the roundabout by the Wielka Krokiew ski jump, so you can walk here or take a town or private minibus towards Kuźnice. There is no car park of its own: the nearest private one is 30 m away and the municipal one is on Bronisława Czecha Street. The exhibition is free, but entry is only with advance online booking on the TPN website; groups go in every 20 minutes and the visit takes about 50 minutes. The Discovery Room is paid and open on weekdays only; children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult, who also needs a ticket; the room is not recommended for children under 7. The centre is closed on Sundays. It is probably the best place in Zakopane for a family on a rainy day — and an excellent "lecture" before your first walk in the Tatras.

Nearby: trails and peaks

Less than a kilometre from the centre are the Droga pod Reglami and the trail Zakopane, Bulwary Słowackiego – Nosalowa Pass – Kuźnice, leading to the main "gateway" into the Tatras. The nearest summit is Nosal, and Zakopane's symbol, Giewont, is visible straight from the street. The Wielka Krokiew Ski Jump is also nearby.

Official website: tpn.gov.pl

Photos: Panek, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.