Graduation towers in mountain villages and spa towns are sometimes fed with brine from nearby boreholes, and sometimes they are small municipal facilities for a stroll. You will find how a graduation tower works and notes on health recommendations in the article on the graduation towers of Kraków and western Lesser Poland (Małopolska); here we focus on what sets the facilities in the mountains and the foothills apart.

Rabka-Zdrój: a graduation tower beside its own borehole

In the spa town of Rabka-Zdrój the graduation tower has its own source of brine. The brine graduation tower in Rabka-Zdrój stands at Jordana 1 and, according to Wikipedia, consists of two wooden buildings: the graduation tower and a pump room. Construction took place in 2008-2009, and the official opening was held on 22 June 2009.

The source of the brine is the nearby Helena borehole, which in 2011 was given an architectural setting echoing the graduation tower. The brine, at a concentration of 1.87 per cent, circulates in a closed loop: the tank is beneath the tower, from where the water is pumped to a height of 10 m and flows down a rack of blackthorn twigs. The mist is breathed in by spa guests walking nearby. Wikipedia adds that inhalations are recommended, among other things, for inflammation of the respiratory system and for allergies, but this is a general description, not medical advice. Right next to it extends the Spa Park in Rabka-Zdrój.

Mineral waters beside the graduation tower: Wysowa-Zdrój and Szczawa

In the Low Beskids, the spa town of Wysowa-Zdrój has a graduation tower. According to map data it was built in 2023, admission is free and the site is accessible at any time. The data also indicate that the brine comes from Wysowa-Zdrój. Wikipedia does not mention the graduation tower itself, but it describes the local spa: the nucleus of the public establishment was a building erected in 1812 by the village head of Wysowa, and in the spa park there are publicly accessible intakes of the Aleksander and Józef I brines. The graduation tower lies not far from the mineral-water pump room, so both places are easy to visit on a single walk.

Szczawa, a village between the Island Beskids and the Gorce, shows that a graduation tower need not be the main feature of a place. The mineral-water pump room in Szczawa stands on provincial road 968, a little north of the new church, and next to it, according to Wikipedia, there is a small graduation tower, benches and a recreation area. The first pump room was built here in 1938, and detailed studies of the waters were carried out in 1958. In the present pump room three waters of different composition are available: Szczawa 1, Dziedzilla and Hanna. The sources give nothing more about this graduation tower.

Poręba Wielka, Jordanów and Zembrzyce

The graduation tower in Poręba Wielka stands in Niedźwiedź municipality, according to the municipality in the setting of Gorce National Park, next to the municipal amphitheatre. It is wooden, with blackthorn twigs placed inside. The municipality advises staying near it for at least half an hour, at a distance of no more than 10 m, and preferably in sunny and windy weather. On the same page it publishes detailed data on the water from the Poręba Wielka IG-1 borehole, drilled in 1973-1975 to a depth of 2,002.4 m: it is chloride-bicarbonate-sodium, iodide and thermal water, at a temperature of 42.1 degrees. The page does not say outright whether this very water flows down the blackthorn twigs. It does, however, contain a list of indications and contraindications, which is worth reading before a visit. Termy Gorce stand nearby.

The graduation tower in Jordanów was built under the Lesser Poland Brine Graduation Towers programme, co-financed by the voivodeship, with a completion deadline of the end of 2024. The town stresses that use is free, that the facility is intended for use in the summer season, and that the area has been adapted to the needs of older people and people with disabilities. A beach volleyball court was built next to it. It is about a kilometre from here to the viewing tower on Hajdówka.

The graduation tower in Zembrzyce belongs to the municipality’s recreational infrastructure and is administered by the Municipal Centre of Culture and Reading. The municipality publishes the full rules. They state that admission is free, that you must keep at least a metre away from the structure, that you must not touch the twigs or drink the brine, and that children may be there only with adults. The rules warn that the brine may irritate the eyes and stain clothing. The administrator reserves the right to switch the graduation tower off because of the weather or maintenance work. In the area lies Lake Mucharskie.

The manor park in Łukowica and the town park in Gorlice

The graduation tower in Łukowica stands in the former manor park in the centre of the village, in Limanowa County. The municipality built it as part of the regeneration of the park and the surroundings of the old church, together with paths, a gazebo, outdoor gym equipment, a playground and a footbridge over the pond. The Limanowa.in website wrote in July 2019 that the complex had been accepted as completed, and that brine from Zabłocie was used in the graduation tower. The village head, in turn, attributed medicinal properties to it, which we do not repeat here, because it is a statement by the organiser, not the result of research.

In Gorlice a graduation tower is to be built in the Town Park, on the site of the former Parkowa café. According to the announcement by the town hall, the wooden structure is to have the shape of a polygon inscribed in a circle, lighting and a column of blackthorn twigs down which the brine flows. The area beneath the roof is to be paved and covered with granite setts, and around it there are to be benches, bins and pergolas echoing the former architecture of the park. The available sources come from the announcement, so for the rules of use and the operation of the graduation tower you need to ask the town hall. Entry on the portal: brine graduation tower in Gorlice.

Beyond the mountains: Polanka Wielka and Paczółtowice

Two graduation towers on this list lie outside the Beskids, but have a similar character as municipal resting places. The graduation tower in Polanka Wielka, in Oświęcim County, was put into operation on 14 April 2022, as the village head states on the municipality’s website. In map data the facility is marked as seasonal.

The graduation tower in Paczółtowice, in Kraków County, is according to a local portal a small graduation house, the first in the municipality. It was built in July 2022 on a square a few hundred metres from the historic church, as the last element in the development of a place with an outdoor gym and a wooden stage.