Every design for Wałbrzych

Książ Castle, the largest castle in Lower Silesia and the third-largest in Poland, is the landmark most people name first, but the people of Wałbrzych know their city by its hills. It lies in the Wałbrzych Mountains and their foothills, 70 kilometres southwest of Wrocław and close to the Czech border, and its highest point, Borowa, rises to 853 metres. Peaks such as Lisi Kamień and Ptasia Kopa sit within reach of everyday streets.

The Pałac Czettritzów belongs to a city that came through the Second World War undamaged and kept its rich historic architecture. Wałbrzych was once a major coal-mining and industrial centre, one of the most powerful in Lower Silesia, while the Muzeum Porcelany w Wałbrzychu shows a more delicate side of the city. Since the mines closed, nature has been coming back: almost a third of the city is green, the Podzamcze allotment gardens, with more than 2500 plots, are the largest in Poland. In 2015 the city made headlines with the search for a Nazi gold train that was never found.

On the map, Wałbrzych runs from the foothills to the mountain ridges, and anyone who grew up here can trace the streets between pithead and palace that made it home.