The 6 Best Things to do in Bochnia, Southern Poland

The exhibition is the largest permanent display of world's butterflies in Poland. Over five thousand (5049) specimen from all over the world can be viewed. Realised in 2009 by Jacek Kobiela and his son Filip Kobiela, the collection is a crowning of the over 35 year lasting passion of the former. Together, the two represent the second and the third generation of collectors in the family. They continue the legacy of Prof. Stanislaw Fischer, who established the Bochnia Museum in 1959, which currently bears his name. ,,Arthropoda's" collection includes an overview of day and night butterflies divided into families and genuses present in all of the world's continents. The collection shows arthropods - the biggest group of animals living on earth: day and night butterflies, beetles (Poland and world), scorpions, mantes, hemiptera. Species from around Bochnia comprise a substantial part of the collection. The exhibition is complemented by a selection of macro pictures of butterflies and beetle heads shot by Filip Kobiela. Butterfly classification is based on the taxonomy of Linnaeus, who first introduced latin binomial nomenclature describing biological species. The museum presents species, whose appearance and biology ilustrate various natural phenomena - a moth doesn't have to be grey and a butterfly can be a leaf, an owl or a tiger.

The Salt Mine Bochnia is the oldest salt mine in Poland. The beginnings of the Bochnia mine as an excavating plant date back to 1248. Being a royal facility, the mine generated a huge income. In 1368, King Casimir the Great issued a document referred to as the Saltworks Statute. It defined the organizational and legal principles for selling salt. The oldest Bochnia mining shafts are the Sutoris and Gazaris shafts. The Bochnia mine and the Sutoris Shaft that are mentioned in the legend on St. Kinga’s ring. The mine developed rapidly in 15th and 16th centuries. More shafts are constructed at that time, i.e. Regis , Bochneris, and Campi. In 17th century, due to wars and an economic decline, the plant’s development slowed down. Visitors to the Bochnia Salt Mine discover the oldest and the most beautiful excavations including the August and Sienkiewicz Levels, the Dobosz Inter-Level.Visitors explore the route on foot and can cover a part of the distance by a tourist train or by boat.