Kielniki Quarry

Kielniki Quarry is a disused limestone working on Kielniki hill, about a kilometre south-east of the castle in Olsztyn. Today it is a geosite through which an educational trail leads.

What the working looks like

The working is a large, flat-bottomed depression, surrounded on three sides by very steep walls of thick-bedded limestone and massive blocks of rock. The walls are cut by a dense network of faults, best visible in the western wall. On the floor are karst sinkholes with red-brown deposits called terra rosa.

What can be found here

The rocks contain fossils, mainly brachiopods and sponges, less often crinoids and sea urchins, and sporadically ammonites. At the foot of the walls lie blocks with mushroom-shaped dripstone formations, which come from caves destroyed during quarrying. In the highest, western wall the Kielniki Cave has survived, and a second one, the Magazyn Cave, is at the south-eastern foot of the hill.

What the quarry was used for

The limestone extracted went mainly into quicklime for construction, which was burned in several lime kilns in Olsztyn. Quarrying ended in the 1970s because of environmental protection and the threat to the nearby castle.

Practical information

• Location: Kielniki hill in Olsztyn near Częstochowa, in the Częstochowa Upland.
• The educational trail has markers and information boards.
• The walls are very steep, so look at them from below and do not climb them.
• On the way lies Olsztyn Castle, about a kilometre from the quarry.