Rogalin Landscape Park () is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

( Landscape Park) in west-central

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, covering an area of . It includes two

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Overview

The Park lies within

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

, across the

Poznań County Poznań County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

and the

Śrem County __NOTOC__ Śrem County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in ...

. It stretches along the banks of the

Warta The river Warta ( , ; ; ) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly through the Polish Plain in a north-westerly direction to flow into the Oder at Kostrzyn nad Odrą on Poland's border with Germany. About long, it the second-longest riv ...

river, and takes its name from the village of Rogalin, which is famous for its historic palace of the Raczynski family and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

trees. About 2000 magnificent oaks are found on the banks of the river

near Rogalin, among numerous

oxbow lakes An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

. It is Europe's largest group of monumental

trees, located within the Rogalin Landscape Park. Their trunks reach a

circumference In geometry, the circumference () is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. The circumference is the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to a line segment. More generally, the perimeter is the curve length arou ...

of up to 9 metres, and all those reaching over 2 m in circumference are protected by law. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl

History

Traces of human settlement in the area of the Park date back to the 9th century BC, there are numerous archaeological sites from the turn of the Antiquity and the Middle Ages, connected with the ford across the Warta River and the Warta swamps. The present-day villages were founded during the full Middle Ages, but they did not retain their original urban layout. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl In the mid-17th century, after the period of destruction caused by wars and natural disasters, a period of settlement of emigrants from Germany and the Netherlands began, establishing new settlements in previously unoccupied, marshy or wooded places. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl The rapid decline in forest cover in the region occurred as a result of settlement in the years 1400–1523 – when the forest area decreased by approx. 30% – and was deepened in the years 1600–1800 by another 20%. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl At the end of the 18th century, the Prussian administration introduced planned forest management and artificial renewal of cut forests, and in the Second Polish Republic, the principles of forest management developed in Greater Poland during the partitions were adopted. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl In the 18th century, extensive drainage works were carried out in the area of the Park, creating a system of canals and regulated watercourses with water objects, draining the sparse wetlands. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl In the nineteenth century, the Prussian government carried out regulatory works on the Warta River, significantly shortening its course from Śrem to Poznań by building ditches eliminating meanders, narrowing and deepening the fairway. Rogaliński Park Krajobrazowy
(Rogalin Landscape Park) at ZPKWW.pl Frequent floods and the changing course of the river current prevented

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of arable farming, crop plants and of Animal husbandry, animals, with higher levels ...

in the wide Warta valley, which contributed to the preservation of its natural landscape.

References

{{Authority control Rogalin Parks in Greater Poland Voivodeship