Discover Lipusz: Culture, Park and the Wda

Lipusz brings together cultural history, remembrance and landscape. When planning your trip, you can first consider which of these aspects interests you most: historic buildings, a park with a botanical learning trail, or the relationship between the Wda River and the watermill. These different highlights can help you get a sense of Lipusz as a destination before looking for a hotel for your stay.

Cultural history and remembrance

The Muzeum Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego is housed in the former Protestant church at the intersection of Wybickiego and Majkowskiego Streets. The building and its present-day use come together at a clearly identifiable location. Another place of remembrance is a monument to a prisoner-of-war camp from the Second World War, which stood in the surrounding fields. The monument is 30 metres beyond the railway viaduct. The museum and the monument highlight different aspects of history: one is housed in a former church building, while the other commemorates the camp and its location in the fields.

Lipusz is also home to the Roman Catholic parish church of St Michael the Archangel. Together with the museum and the monument, it provides another point of interest for travellers interested in religious and local history. These three places should not be conflated into a single story: the museum is associated with a former church building, the parish church is dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, and the monument commemorates the camp from the Second World War.

Arboretum and park

On the grounds of the Lipusz Forest District is an arboretum established in 2011, with a collection of trees and shrubs. It is the first and only garden of its kind in Kościerski County. The year it was established and its regional distinction give the arboretum its own focus: it is centred on woody plants and their arrangement, not on the historical use of a single building.

The park by the Lipusz Forest District is an open-access recreational and educational park. Its learning trail covers nectar-rich trees, shrubs and perennials. Pergolas, benches, paths with different surfaces and a covered rest area are also among its facilities. The park thus combines educational information about particular plants with amenities for recreation and spending time there. The different path surfaces are a specific feature of the park; in themselves, they say nothing about the condition of other paths.

The plants in the park create an interesting array of colours that changes with the seasons and over the years. The scenery should therefore not be thought of as unchanging. Those who include the park in their travel plans will find a botanical feature whose appearance changes over time. This distinguishes it from the arboretum, whose year of establishment and collection of trees and shrubs provide a distinct focus that can be described consistently over time.

The Wda, the watermill and other landmarks

Alongside the watermill, the Wda, which is wide here, forms the Młyński Pond. The watermill can also be viewed from the kayaking route on the Wda. The river, pond and mill are thus connected by a specific spatial relationship, offering a different focus from the historic buildings or plant collections. Viewing the mill from the kayaking route is a distinct way of experiencing this place; it should not be conflated with information about the park or arboretum.

The Diabelski Kamień (Devil’s Stone) is also located near Lipusz, on the learning trail of the Lipusz Forest District, close to the Płociczno forester’s lodge. It is therefore another landmark in the area around the destination, not a feature that should be considered as lying within the town itself. When choosing what interests you about the trip, you can make this distinction: within the town are, among other things, the church, museum and monument; the park and arboretum offer different botanical features, while the Wda and the mill highlight a relationship between the river and the water.

Discover more destinations: Dziemiany, Sobącz, Łubiana, Lipuska Huta, Piechowice, Grabówko, Konarzyny, Dobrogoszcz.

For the broader travel overview: Berent.