What a graduation tower is and how it works

A graduation tower (tężnia, also called a gradierwerk) is a structure of wood and blackthorn twigs. According to Wikipedia, it used to serve for concentrating brine: the solution flowed down the twigs, partly evaporated and with each circuit became saltier, so that less fuel was needed when boiling salt. Today graduation towers are built mainly as open-air inhalation spaces. The brine breaks up on the twigs into fine droplets, and a brine mist rises around it, which you breathe in while walking or resting on a bench.

Wikipedia points out that medicinal graduation towers differ from the old production ones: the walls are vertical, so that as much mist as possible is produced. The effect depends on the weather, because evaporation is strongest in wind and sun. The same encyclopaedia also describes a dispute around small urban graduation towers. If the brine does not come from a nearby spring and circulates for weeks in a closed loop, in the view of the authors of the entry bacteria may multiply in it. That is why descriptions of individual facilities are worth reading with caution.

The health recommendations that appear in municipal materials are descriptions by the organisers, not medical advice. The sports centre in Bukowno also lists contraindications: cardiovascular diseases, infections with fever, cancers and hypersensitivity to iodine. If in doubt, it is best to ask a doctor. Below are facilities from Kraków and the western part of the voivodeship, from the graduation tower beside a salt mine to small municipal structures.

Wieliczka: a graduation tower beside the salt mine

The brine graduation tower in Wieliczka is the one closest to Kraków among the larger facilities described here. According to Wikipedia, it was opened at the end of 2014 in St Kinga’s Park on Matejki Street, next to the mine. The design was made by the Asa Stożek Architekci studio. The structure, of larch wood lined with bundles of blackthorn, resembles a wooden stronghold, and above it rises an octagonal viewing tower 22.5 m high. The brine comes from the mine. The tower echoes the mine’s cooling towers, demolished in 2009.

Wikipedia states that the facility was built on land affected by mining damage, so the foundations were made with special reinforcement. The data on size differ. Wikipedia gives dimensions of about 53 by 69 m and an area of 7,500 m², whereas the mine’s website gives 3,200 m² as the area of the blackthorn structure. The sources do not explain the source of the difference. The mine presents the graduation tower in its offer for individual visitors: the walk is unguided, and the recommended time for a visit is about half an hour.

On a single walk it is easy to combine it with the neighbouring St Kinga’s Park and with the Wieliczka Salt Mine, about which there is more in separate articles on the portal.

Kraków: the graduation tower in Bieńczyce

In Kraków itself the easiest to find is the Nowa Huta Brine Graduation Tower, which stands in Bieńczyce, in the Nowa Huta district. According to map data admission is free, and the facility is seasonal, so it may be closed in winter. In the area lies the Jan Matejko Manor House in Krzesławice, about 300 m from here.

The Olkusz Mining Basin: Olkusz, Bukowno and Wolbrom

In Olkusz the graduation tower was officially opened on 26 June 2024 in Czarna Góra Park, next to the tennis courts and the swimming pool complex. According to the town and municipality office, the larch structure is almost seven metres high, and the area of blackthorn down which the brine flows is almost 700 m². The office calls it the largest brine graduation tower in the area. The facility is free and operates seasonally, lighting comes on after dark, and you can enter from Żuradzka Street or by the park’s paths. From a walk in the park it is not far to Underground Olkusz. Entry for the facility: brine graduation tower on Czarna Góra in Olkusz.

In neighbouring Bukowno the graduation tower belongs to the grounds of the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre and, as the centre writes, complements the recreation area in the southern part of the town. It is wooden, seasonal and closed during precipitation. The centre also describes the mist as rich in sodium, iodine, magnesium and potassium. After an inhalation you can look in at the Ore Mining Museum in Bukowno.

In Wolbrom the graduation tower stands by the House of Culture and serves as a resting place in the town centre. A local portal describes it as part of the tidied surroundings of the House of Culture. In map data it appears under the name Tężnia Lecha, and the House of Culture is its operator. More about the place: Tężnia Lecha in Wolbrom.

Chrzanów and Trzebinia

The Chrzanów graduation tower has operated since April 2024 on the Północ-Tysiąclecie estate, in the area of Broniewskiego and Struga streets. It was launched by Wodociągi Chrzanowskie (the Chrzanów waterworks), which operate it. The municipality describes the structure as wooden, supplemented with conifer and blackthorn twigs. Beside it stand a pergola, benches, bicycle racks and deckchairs, and the area is lit and monitored. The facility was built with funding from the voivodeship under the Lesser Poland Brine Graduation Towers task. Next door is a playground and the Municipal Public Library, and nearby the Chrzanów Museum.

In Trzebinia the graduation tower stands by the Chechło reservoir. According to a local portal it is eight metres long and three metres high, was built in 2021 and is adapted for people with disabilities and for seniors. The story of its funding is interesting: the municipality built it with a prize for the highest increase in fully vaccinated residents in Chrzanów County, and residents voted on the location and the idea itself. The portal recommends staying near the graduation tower for at least half an hour. Entry: graduation tower by the Chechło reservoir in Trzebinia.

Municipal graduation towers in the south and east

Some of the facilities are known mainly from announcements made during construction, so before you set out you need to check whether they are operating. In Dobczyce a graduation tower was planned in the Dobczyce Town Park on Turystyczna Street, next to a water playground. A trade portal wrote of a wooden structure of blackthorn twigs. The park lies close to Dobczyce Castle. Details in the entry: brine graduation tower in Dobczyce.

Gdów municipality described its graduation tower during construction: a wooden spruce structure with a pergola, walls filled with blackthorn, a plastic brine tank in a casing of boards and a closed loop. The facility was to be free and adapted for seniors and people with disabilities. See: brine graduation tower in Gdów.

Furthest east lies the graduation tower in Wola Lubecka in Ryglice municipality, in Tarnów County. It was built at the end of 2023 on Kokocz Hill as the first stage of the development of the hill. It takes the form of a wooden pergola, with benches beside it. The most important element of further work was to be a viewing tower, but local sources do not make it possible to establish whether it has already been built.