Click Here for our full picture gallery.

Zakopane has existed for merely 400 years. It originated as an agricultural and shepherding settlement on the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. According to a popular legend, the first person to arrive here was a man called Gasienica, whose first name remains unknown. His sons, Pawel and Jedrzej built a mill, and for several decades the settlement existed as a village "at the back of beyond".

Its development began as late as in the middle of 18th century when the neighbouring Kuynice ironworks came into being. They processed the iron ore excavated in the Tatras. Before long, the people began to abandon the noisy, smoke filled and shaded valley, moving to sunnier Zakopane.

By the 19th century, Zakopane had begun to achieve widespread fame as a health spa and a tourist resort. The local vicar, Józef Stolarczyk, convinced the Tatra mountaineers that they should rent out their rooms to holidaymakers, which led subsequently to the inhabitants of Zakopane starting to build rest houses exclusively for the needs of tourism. In 1878, the first "guest from the Lowlands" built a house here - Walery Eljasz, the author of several guide - books around the Tatras. In 1885, the first hotel "At the Foot of Giewont" was raised. The railway system reached the Tatras in 1899.

The development of Zakopane is closely related to the establishment of the Tatras Association (1872) and the arrival of Tytus Chalubiński, the man who was soon recognised as the "king of the Tatras" and acclaimed as "the discoverer of Zakopane". In 1935 Zakopane was given the status of a town.

The wartime was historically different for Zakopane. The town was meant to be a relaxation and convalescence place for German soldiers, therefore it was a closed zone to the rest of Poland. The German propaganda ineffectively tried to ascribe German origin to the local people, but most of them put up passive resistance against the occupier's activities. Many locals worked for the Resistance, and the town become known for the couriers' activity whereby important documents were transported through the Tatra Mountains to Slovakia and Hungary.

The most notable event in the recent history of the town was the visit of the Head of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II. The Pope had always appreciated Zakopane and the Tatras, especially the Chocholowska Valley and had been charmed by the place since his youth when he had walked and skied in the mountains.

The Pope returned to Zakopane again in June 1997 when he spent a few days here. He climbed the Kasprowy Wierch, he walked up to Morskie Oko, and he went to Ludymierz along the ridge of Gubalówka. There are numerous remembrances left by John Paul II which commemorate his visits to the to the region, the most famous of which is an altar originally constructed at the foot of Krokiew where he celebrated a mass. It was moved later on to the gardens of the Holy Virgin and at present is to be found at Krzeptówki.