Miłków is a small, picturesque town in the Karkonosze Mountains on the Łomnica River, north of Karpacz. Its buildings stretch several kilometers up along the Miłkowa stream. In the past, Miłków was a famous center specializing in herbalism. Over the years, it has managed to preserve its natural, rural charm, attracting tourists looking for rest and peace. From the surrounding meadows and hills there is a fabulous view of the panorama of the Karkonosze Mountains and Śnieżka.
The history of Miłków
Miłków was probably founded in the 13th century by settlers from Thuringia and Franconia. Since then, it has gone through alternating periods of development and decline. In medieval times, shepherding dominated in Miłków. Later, pig iron began to be smelted in the area from ores from nearby mines. The first steelworks were powered by the power of local streams. Unfortunately, during the Hussite Wars, the town fell into ruins. Even the local church was not spared, and the reconstruction was constantly interrupted by subsequent religious wars.
When the era of machines came, there was a thriving linen bleaching plant in Miłków, which was part of the spinning factory in Mysłakowice. At the same time, herbalism flourished in Miłków since the 17th century, which gave rise to the local pharmaceutical industry. The medicines from Miłków were known throughout Europe. Unfortunately, medics and pharmacists from Prussia, unable to endure such dynamic competition, banned the trade in Miłków remedies at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the herbal profession was almost completely extinguished.
It was in the 19th century that Miłków transformed into a tourist center. Local herbalists began to work as mountain guides, showing wealthy aristocrats around the nooks and crannies of the Karkonosze Mountains. Popularity of trips from Miłków to Snow White was growing. There were over a dozen shops in the town, including department stores and a fashion house, as well as bakeries, butchers and delicatessens. Unfortunately, the development of local tourism was once again brutally interrupted, this time by the great flood in 1897, which practically razed the town to the ground. The situation improved in 1895, when the industrial revolution began with the construction of a railway connection between Miłków and Prussia. New grain mills, paper mills, a brewery and even a cigar factory were built. The first paper mill in Miłków was also the first factory of this type on the Silesian side of the Karkonosze Mountains.
What is worth seeing when visiting Miłków?
Many monuments have been preserved in Miłków. They sketch the landscape of Miłków two church towers, which, although they represent historically different times, complement each other perfectly. The slender tower of the former Evangelical church is a remnant from the times of ancient services. Today, tree branches discreetly emerge from the holes in the tin roof. The second tower is part of the Gothic Church of St. Jadwiga. The towers also mark the area of the town center, filled with low houses, whose history often dates back to the 18th century.
Right next to the ruins of the Evangelical church, the old building has been preserved in very good condition pastoral shorts and evangelical school, which was adjacent to the local one brewery. It stands proud nearby Miłkowski Palace surrounded by an old park and ponds. Today it is an addiction treatment center. In the 18th century, the owner of the palace was Countess von Lodron, who was famous for her passion for herbalism and magic. Her goal was to discover a drug that would provide eternal youth, in which she competed with the famous Giacomo Casanova. Legends say that the countess finally managed to create this drug, but it turned out to be so strong that the rejuvenated countess began to travel in time and to this day, three times a year, during the autumn full moon, she visits the contemporary walls of the palace in Miłków and the surrounding area. the local pond.
In Miłków you can also see:
- "Pillar of Shame" – a stone pillory with a brick gallows
- "Forest Gene Bank" – a dendrological garden with over 700 species of plants,
- "A Cottage on Your Head", in which you can see the world in a perspective reversed by 171 degrees,
- futuristic normobaric chamber, where oxygen and pressure therapy are performed.
What else awaits tourists in Miłków?
Miłków, located in the foothills, provides tourists with, above all, vast spaces and amazing views. Miłków winds for approximately 4 km along the stream until it reaches the foothills Foreheads and Sagittarius. Surrounded by forests and, in some places, rocky and steep slopes Czartowiec and Grabowiec, delights with natural hiding places untouched by modern civilization.
From here you can see, among others: smogornia – a peak carved out by rugged cirques of ponds, as well Snow White and Black Ridge and hills Rudawy Janowskie and their highest peak - Skalnik.
The mysterious surroundings of Miłków are the background of many dark local legends. Apparently both persecuted Protestants and war refugees sought shelter in the local forests. Following the blue trail, you can reach a nameless pass with a sloping clearing covered with forest. The ruins of the former Bergfrieden Baude shelter are hidden here. In the upper part of Miłków there are also the remains of a former ski jump.