Kempen: Culture and Nature in Kępno County

When choosing a hotel in Kempen, it is worth deciding first what you want to focus on during your stay: Kępno offers exhibitions and historic churches, while nature monuments, protected areas and hiking trails add further options in Kępno County. This lets you weigh up culture and landscape and plan your trip according to your interests.

Kępno and Bralin: Exhibitions and Churches

The Kępno Land Museum features the permanent exhibition “From the History of Kępno”. The first floor also houses the exhibitions “Jewish Heritage in Kępno” and “Colours of Potworowski”. Admission to the museum is free. If you are interested in Kępno’s history, you can include the three exhibitions as a cultural stop in your travel plans; check the latest visitor information before your visit.

The churches also offer different historical points of interest. St Martin’s Church in Kępno dates from 1685 and is one of the oldest brick churches in Kępno County. In Bralin, the former Evangelical Church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1866–1867 on the site of an earlier Evangelical school. The wooden church “Na Pólku” near Bralin was built in 1711 and is closely associated with Saint Hedwig of Silesia’s pilgrimage to Kraków in 1229. In recognition of the outstanding restoration of its 18th-century wooden architecture, it received a Europa Nostra medal on 25 February 1993.

Other historic traces in Bralin include the Bralin ramparts: the remains of a fortified manor in the form of a conical earthwork with traces of a moat. Together with the churches, these sites illustrate different facets of local history, from sacred architecture to an earlier fortification.

The Arboretum and Nature Destinations in Kępno County

The Laski Arboretum is a dendrological garden dating back to 1981. More than 220 species, varieties and forms of ornamental and forest trees and shrubs grow across just under seven hectares. The garden provides a distinct botanical focus among the nature destinations in the county. Geomorphologically, Kępno County lies within the Wieruszów Upland, whose landscape has little relief.

The Baranów Natura 2000 site is a 12.27-hectare special area of conservation for habitats, with wet meadows near Kępno’s southern city limits. The Bralin Oaks natural monument consists of twelve oaks estimated to be 600 to 800 years old. In the Studnica Nature Reserve in Rychtal municipality, spruce trees reach heights of up to 40 metres and diameters of more than 100 centimetres. These destinations each have a distinct character: the wet meadows, ancient oaks and the size of the spruces each draw attention to different aspects of the landscape and natural heritage.

Hiking Trails and Practical Information

The yellow-marked WK–193y hiking trail runs for 40.7 kilometres within Kępno County. Another hiking trail passes the Studnica Nature Reserve and the Laski Arboretum. When planning your trip, it is helpful to distinguish this distance from the individual nature destinations: it describes the route and length of WK–193y, while the other trail is identified by the places it passes.

The recreation centre in Mikorzyn has a swimming area and a playground; fishing is also one of the activities available there. Check operating details before your visit. For regional orientation, Kępno is the only town in Kępno County. The major Wrocław–Warsaw and Katowice–Poznań transport links pass through the town. This means your travel plans can include both specific destinations in Kępno and nature and hiking destinations elsewhere in the county.

Discover more destinations: Kępno, Bralin, Baranów, Złotów, Nowy Tomyśl, Kalisz, Krotoszyn, Ostrzeszów.

For the broader travel overview: Greater Poland.