Spring in the Bukowica Nature Reserve Zagórze
Nature
Zagórze
Tourist region: Oświęcim i okolice
This unusual site is located in a picturesque reserve and has many legends associated with it. You might hear one of these while walking among the old beech trees.
In the western part of the Tenczyński Hump near the village of Zagórze (municipality of Babice) is wooded hill known as the Bukowica Nature Reserve, beneath which sits atop a is limestone formed during the Triassic period. The Reserve shelters old-growth beech trees that are what remains of the once vast Carpathian beech forest. Along with much else that flourishes in the Reserve is wolfsbane, lily of the valley and woodruff. One of the more remarkable features of the reserve is an outcrop several metres long – a rock wall made of Triassic limestone, in which numerous openings of small caves are visible and there is a natural spring whose waters surge up through the limestone, which is one reason the water enjoyed by the locals, similarly filtered through the limestone, renowned for its taste and health benefits. One of the local legends has it that a golden duck swims from Lipowiec castle to the spring via an underground passage. King John III Sobieski and his army stopped here on their way to fight the Turks at Vienna. Some pass on stories of how the miraculous water from the Zagórze spring later contributed to the victory over the Turks.