The Karkonosze Mountains are the land of the legendary Mountain Spirit – Karkonosz, whom folk legend settled at the foot of their highest peak – Śnieżka (1,602 m). They are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges not only in our country, but also in Europe.
Since the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Karpacz was established in 1974, this cultural institution has collected old prints, historic photographs and contemporary photographs depicting these Silesian mountains. The exhibition “The Karkonosze Mountains: Then and Now” was created from this unique collection. Thirty works were selected from the print collection, each more than 100 years old.
They show the main tourist attractions and places visited by hikers of that time. The exhibition includes mountain panoramas, peaks – primarily Śnieżka, the highest peak of the Karkonosze Mountains and the entire Sudetes, waterfalls, chapels located high in the mountains, historic castles, former mountain shelters and other important sites. These prints were purchased as unusual souvenirs by visitors arriving at the Cieplice spa, located just a few kilometres from Jelenia Góra.
The surviving photographs preserve fragments of a bygone reality. Thanks to them, we know what the Karkonosze Mountains looked like more than 100 years ago and how the mountain landscape changed as new structures were built, not only those intended for tourists.
The masterful photographs were made from large-format glass negatives, and the prints were produced using the contact printing method. Their excellent quality still inspires widespread admiration today. Although the photographs are not dated, detailed iconographic analysis makes it possible to establish that they originated between 1902 and 1904. Unfortunately, the author of these works is also unknown.
The contemporary photographs of the Karkonosze Mountains were taken by Zbigniew Kulik, a photographer from Karpacz who has successfully photographed these mountains for many years and presents them at exhibitions in Poland and abroad.
(information: Museum of Ceramics)