Set 660m above sea level, the Mercure Szczyrk Resort is a sprawling nine-floor facility built into the slopes of Mount Skrzyczne, the highest peak in the mountain range.
The hotel’s marketing manager, Magdalena Sikora, said: “We expected a lot of interest in our hotel and this is what is happening, considering the number of reservations that we receive.”
Based on a design by Poland’s architectural powerhouse consortium of Pracownia ARC and Gronner & Rączka Architekci, the team drew inspiration from the building’s previous life as a congress and recreation center for workers from the Katowice steelworks.
Named Orle Gniazdo (Eagle’s Nest), the original design by renowned architect Jerzy Winnicki was initially intended to be three separate facilities.
With investors finally agreeing to make it one facility, by the time it was put into use in the 1970s, the building was one of the largest in Poland, and because of its curved shape, one of the most unique.
Considered modern and luxurious at the time, the resort contained double and triple rooms, several bars, restaurants, a nightclub and swimming pool.
Following the collapse of communism, it began hosting numerous cultural events, including the Polish Junior Chess Championships, and, in 2017, the finishing line of the third stage of the Tour de Pologne was held outside.
However, in the years that followed, the building slowly began to fall into disrepair until it was eventually bought up by the international Accor hotel chain, with construction on the company’s first resort in Poland beginning in 2021.
Now billed as being a place “where luxury meets nature,”, announcing its opening on Facebook, the hotel said: “We are reaching for the top in every dimension. The road was full of challenges, but with each step we were getting closer to our goal - to create the perfect place for your vacation in the heart of the Beskids.”
