Jawor: Peace Churches, Castles and Routes Through the Landscape

The Jawor destination brings together a range of themes: churches and a chamber music festival in Jawor, Bolków Castle, and hiking and cycling routes in several municipalities. Each place has its own character, bringing together architectural history, culture and landscape.

Churches, culture and architectural history

The Peace Churches in Jawor and Świdnica are Europe’s largest Baroque timber-framed religious buildings. The Church of Peace in Jawor was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. Another notable church in Jawor is the Church of St Martin, which houses a 14th-century sculpture of St Martin in episcopal vestments.

Music also has a longstanding place in local cultural history. Since 1995, the Regional Museum in Jawor has organized the Jaworskie Koncerty Pokoju chamber music festival. In Słup, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with its cemetery chapels, is located on the Lower Silesian Cistercian Trail. These sites represent different religious points of interest: UNESCO World Heritage, medieval art and a church on a designated cultural route.

Castles and historic traces

Bolków Castle was built around the middle of the 13th century and expanded toward the end of the century by Duke Bolko I. The castle has a 25-metre-high tower offering sweeping views across the Nysa Szalona valley. The building’s history and the valley views offer two different perspectives: one on the castle’s medieval development, the other on the landscape.

The 14th-century ruins of Świny Castle preserve fragments of vaults, stucco and a cut-stone portal, as well as Gothic windows and exterior sgraffito decoration. The Szlak 4 Zamków connects the medieval fortifications of the Bolków municipality and is designated as a tourist route. Forests, ravines, valleys and streams shape the route; mouflons and salamanders may be found there in the wild.

Hiking and cycling routes through the landscape

The 68-hectare “Wąwóz Siedmicki” nature reserve is located in Jakuszowa and Nowa Wieś, in the municipality of Paszowice and in the southern part of the “Chełmy” Landscape Park. It offers a specific connection with nature within the destination. The named hiking trails also differ in their routes: “Turystyczna” is about 12 kilometres long and passes through Paszowice in the heart of Kraina Wygasłych Wulkanów. “Leśna Przygoda” runs through the picturesque landscapes of the Kaczawskie Mountains and their foothills.

The “Widokowa” hiking trail passes through Myślibórz, Jakuszowa, Siedmica, Grobla, Kłonice and Paszowice. It runs through Kraina Wygasłych Wulkanów and offers numerous viewpoints and nature experiences. “Szlak Salamandry” passes through Jakuszowa and Myślibórz, as well as over Rataj Hill in the municipality of Paszowice. The “Ptasi Trakt” educational trail runs around a pond in Pogwizdów. If you are interested in a specific hiking route, you can choose among named places, viewpoints and different landscapes.

Two different cycling routes are also described. The blue cycle route from Bolków runs for about 5.5 kilometres along the Nysa Szalona river, then returns to Bolków via Sady Dolne, Sady Górne, Figlów, Nagórnik and Półwsie. The yellow cycle route also returns to Bolków, passing through Wierzchosławice, Wierzchosławiczki, Stare Rochowice, Płonina and Pastewnik; much of it runs through picturesque spruce forests. The blue route focuses on the riverside section and the sequence of villages, while the yellow route highlights spruce forests and the places along the way.

When planning your hotel stay, you can start by choosing a theme: Jawor is known for its churches and chamber music, Bolków for castles and routes, and Paszowice for hiking trails and nature reserves. Choose your preferred base according to which of these aspects of Jawor interests you most.

Discover more destinations: Chełmiec, Bolków, Kondratów, Granowice, Męcinka, Paszowice, Jastrowiec, Wołów.

View the wider travel overview: Lower Silesia.