Cabinet of curiosities · 18 collections

The Poland guidebooks leave out.

Come on a journey through a land of wonders: a fungus that looks like a red octopus, a forest where the pines first grow sideways, and St. Kinga's Chapel carved out of salt. Open any drawer and see how many of these curiosities you know.

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My drawer

Cards kept with the ☆ button on a card. The list stays in this browser only: the atlas sends it nowhere, and clearing the site's data deletes it.

The drawer is empty. Keep a card with the ☆ button on the card.

Collections

Eighteen drawers of the cabinet

Every collection has an atlas, flashcards, a quiz and sources. Some also have a map of places.

Fact of the day

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Daily challenge

5 questions from the whole atlas, the same for everyone today.

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About

A multi-domain atlas of Poland's natural and cultural curiosities

Rare species, places and phenomena of Poland gathered in one site — with an atlas, flashcards, quiz and transparent photo credits. An educational project where AI helps research, and a human decides what gets published.
— Robert Oroloko

Education, not identification

This atlas isn't a field guide, mushroom edibility test or decision tool for approaching wild animals. Treat it as a curious primer, not an identifier.

Checked, not made up

Every fun fact has a source and is checked against its text; numbers and dates were also checked by search. Whatever is uncertain is left out. AI helps with the work; the choices and the final word are mine.

Open licensing

Photos from Wikimedia Commons with full attribution (author, source, license, license URL, crop and compression info). We don't copy descriptions from other atlases.

Photos on the start page

The photos are embedded from Wikimedia Commons at a reduced size and cropped to the shape of the tiles.

Map of the atlas

Every place on one map

Mines, castles, wooden tserkvas, rocks, lakes and other places from the cards of the atlas. Tap a point to open its card, or see what is nearest to you.

Near me: your location stays in your browser; the atlas does not store it or send it anywhere. The map only downloads the base map of the area in view from OpenFreeMap.

Quiz of the atlas

Test yourself on the whole atlas

Questions from different collections: descriptions, names and fun facts with their sources. The daily challenge is the same for everyone today; the random quiz is different every time.

Daily challenge

5 questions, the same for everyone today

Each question from a different collection. New ones tomorrow.

Random quiz

10 questions from the whole atlas

Different collections and questions every time.

The daily challenge scores stay in this browser only: the atlas sends them nowhere.

Koefbac · CC BY-SA 4.0

Living nature

Unusual Amphibians and Reptiles of Poland

30 herpetofauna curiosities of Poland: blue moor-frog breeding, garlic-scented spadefoots, Bombina warning displays, newt crests, tree-frog climbing, relic snakes, pond turtles and invasive ornamental turtles.

Amphibians and Reptiles

Great crested newt

Triturus cristatus

In breeding dress, the male wears a jagged crest, as if for a few weeks it turned into a miniature water dragon.

Region: Scattered across Poland, local and dependent on a network of clean, well-vegetated ponds.

Amphibians and Reptiles: all cards

Note: Educational prototype. Observe amphibians and reptiles without handling, moving or damaging habitats; many are protected, sensitive to disturbance or risky when approached carelessly. Never release terrarium animals into the wild.

Atlas

30 curiosities - Amphibians and Reptiles

Click a card to see details.

Map

Map of places

Tap a point to see its name and open the card.

All places of the atlas on one map

Learn

Flashcards: guess the entry

First read the clue, then reveal the answer.

Quiz

10 calm questions

Questions come from descriptions, names and fun facts of the active collection, including true-or-false ones.

Quiz of the whole atlas and the daily challenge

Sources and licenses

Fact sources and photo credits

Descriptions start from the supplied working material on Polish herpetofauna curiosities. Photos come from Wikimedia Commons with full attribution; representative frames are labelled as such.

Project rule

We do not copy descriptions from other atlases. We write short original educational notes and use only images with clear licenses.

Photo checklist

author / rights holder,
link to the file page,
license name,
license link,
note whether the image was cropped or compressed.