You can pet mammoths here. The Avenue of Pleistocene Stars is a tourist hit of a town in Poland
A selfie with a mammoth? Here you go! Such an attraction awaits tourists who visit Moryń in Western Pomerania. On the Avenue of Stars of the Pleistocene, there are ten life-size statues of animals from the Ice Age. What’s more – the avenue can be visited completely free of charge.
– Animals are scrubbed and refreshed every year before the season – reveals Sławomir Jasek from the Moryń magistrate in an interview with straight.pl. Because you need to know that the local prehistoric animals are not ordinary plastic figures. Each is covered with artificial fur, so literally: in Moryń you can pet mammoths.
Where did mammoths come from in Moryń?
Moryń is home to the Polish part of the cross-border Geopark “Pogladocowa nad Odrą”. But the Pleistocene Avenue of Stars in Moryna is not only about mammoths, although it is them – specifically the mammoth Geosia and a little mammoth named Morynek – that arouse the most emotions. There are ten animals in total. European bison, northern elk or saber-toothed tiger. The avenue begins at the historic walls and continues along the Morzycko Lake. You can touch each animal and compare your foot with the paw and hoof prints on the bronze plaques on the promenade.
The entire initiative is a cross-border project to promote the region whose characteristic landscapes on both sides of the Oder River have been shaped by a glacier. You can get to know the fascinating history and stories from the times when mammoths actually walked here by visiting the local Regional Geopark Office, which serves as a small museum and tourist information center (you can get a mammoth stamp here). For fans of prehistory, there is one more attraction prepared – next to the city walls there is also the Stone Garden – a lapidarium with erratic boulders.
What is worth seeing in Moryń?
Moryn is not only mammoths. Every summer, this small town located south of Szczecin attracts tourists due to the charming Morzycko Lake. It is worth noting that the lake is 60 meters deep at its deepest point and is a crypto depression.
Moryń boasts a preserved medieval urban layout (it is worth taking a walk through the atmospheric, narrow streets and be sure to pay attention to the numerous, well-preserved old wooden doors) and… the only monument of cancer in Poland. Being here, you must stop at the thirteenth-century church of St. St. spirit. This is an important place not only for lovers of sacral architecture, but also for fans of Zbigniew Nienacki’s books. On the church tower there is a stone with a characteristic chessboard motif, well known to the readers of “The Book of Fears”, because the action of this book takes place, among others, in in Moryń.
– We invite you to visit us in person, and if someone is not convinced, they can first look at us by visiting the city’s website and take a virtual walk around Moryń – encourages Sławomir Jasek. The virtual walk also leads through the Avenue of Pleistocene Stars.
