History
The current state of the natural and cultural environment of the Karkonosze has been influenced by long-term processes and economic development. Determining the latter reason for changes in the mountain landscapes were mining industry and metallurgy, that started developing here in the Middle Ages and mainly contributed both to economic development and to forest transformation in the area.
Another important factor that forced modifications in the natural plant cover of the Karkonosze was the grazing of livestock. The vast areas formerly covered in forests were used for farming as early as the 16th century.
The landscape and plant covering was further transformed due to the development of tourism. The beginning dates back to the 17th century. Tourist traffic was accompanied by the development of communication. The mountains themselves had to face the construction of special tourist roads and walking paths to make the mountains accesible to tourists..
At the end of the 19th century, winter sports started to develop; sledding was the first sport to become popular in the region. The year 1893 saw the first ski-climb up Śnieżka. The growing popularity of winter sports gave rise to an intense infrastructural development.
After 1956 the tourism in Karkonosze was revived: due to the borderline walking routes becoming accessible for tourists (1957), the opening of the first lifts from Karpacz up to Kopa (1959) and from Szklarska Poręba up to Szrenica (1961), and the signing of the Polish-Czech Tourist Convention (1961) the number of tourists in Karkonosze increased.
The Karkonosze became one of the mountains with the best-developed tourist infrastructure, not only in Poland but also in Central Europe. This is proved by such indicators as density of tourist routes (length per 1 km2), density of mountain shelter network (number per 1 km2), size of tourist accommodation infrastructure in foothill localities, and finally the number of tourists using the mountain routes.
However, measures to protect the natural environment of the Karkonosze were also estimated quite early. In 1910 the first Environment Commissioner for the Karkonosze was appointed, and in 1927 Mountain Guard was established. The Minister’ Council ultimately resolved to establish the Karkonosze National Park on 16 January 1959. Its Czech counterpart was set up in 1963. Later, in 1993 the area of both National Parks was officially recognized by the UNESCO as Bilateral Biosphere Reserve Karkonosze/Krkonoše, in order to provide a forum of communication between the decision-makers of the cross-border region, local stakeholders and experts.
