Communes

Kargowa Commune

Not everyone can boast connections with a royal family. In this respect, the Rehabilitation and Health Care Hospital for children in Wojnowo (Kargowa Commune) may feel privileged.

The palace which now houses the hospital was erected in 1910. Before World War II it belonged to the Duchess Armagarda Kunegunda Biesterfeld zu Lippe, the grandmother of Beatrix, the current Queen of the Netherlands. The Queen’s father, Bernhard, spent his younger years in Wojnowo. When the turmoil of the war ended and the Big Three made a new division of Europe, the ruling Dutch House handed down the palace to the Polish authorities on one condition, however: the complex was to serve children. And so it has. Thanks to the favourable local microclimate, for many years the palace served as a sanatorium and then a health centre for children with pulmonary disease. Since January 1st , 2005 it has functioned as a hospital for children. In the mid-1990s the Queen Beatrix paid a private visit to Wojnowo.

In the park surrounding the palace there is a very interesting nature-didactic path, one of whose branches leads to the Wojnowskie Lake. It is a beautiful place for relaxation among unspoilt nature, which is especially appreciated by holidaymakers from the nearby recreational centre and the scouts pitching their camp in the Wojnowo forest every year.

Surely, it was more than once that the cub scouts taking part in the paper chase game covered a few kilometers to reach the neighbouring Linie Lake. The lake was formed in the area of ground moraine, which makes it a scenically-situated body of water. It lies along the Babimost – Kargowa route and for many reasons enjoys a well-deserved fame. First of all, it is known for the high purity of its waters. One can catch there big eels and dozen-kilogram carps and grass carps. The biggest fish caught in this fishery also include: 7–10-kg pikes, 6-kg zanders, 3-kg breams and carassius specimens weighing over 1 kg. Linie Lake is also home to the catfish. The lake is systematically restocked, which makes it an attractive fishery for anglers. The recreation centre located by the lake offers detached holiday homes with sanitary equipment, a bivouac area, a campsite and a facility for water equipment rental.

Cycling lovers may reach the lake from both of the above-mentioned towns along a cycling trail, which winds its way through the forests and fields. There is also Artists’ Forrester’s Lodge and Eugeniusz Paukszta Hall of Remembrance. Many years ago the writer used to come to what was then an ordinary forester’s lodge to write his novels. Nowadays, the Eugeniusz Paukszta Commune Public Library in Kargowa is one of the co-organizers of a nationwide literary contest.

In Kargowa itself it is recommendable to see a 17th-c. palace – a former residence of  the town’s owners, the Unrug family (now a private property, closed to visitors),  St. Maksymilian Kolbe’s post-Evangelical auxiliary church, erected in the years 1801 – 1805 and St. Wojciech’s Parish Church built in 1892. The Town Hall set in the town centre is also worth seeing. It owes its present Classicistic character to the reconstruction work done in 1856. In Smolno Wielkie and Karszyn there are 18th-c. churches.

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The Artists’ Forester’s Lodge and Eugeniusz Paukszta Hall of Remembrance at Liny Lake

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