A Night of Museums with the Horseshoes

Plays about bats with a surprising ending, animations, educational activities, competitions, games, meetings with chiropterologists. These and many other interesting attractions awaited the participants of the Night of Museums under the Bat Sign in Szymbark Castle (19 May 2024). The event attracted 300 participants, 56 teams took part in a field game, and more than 40 people were involved in organising the event (Szymbark Castle staff, educators-animators of the Horseshoe Bat Land, chiropterologists, bat enthusiasts, volunteers).

Participants played bat memory game, took photos on a photo wall ‘becoming’ a Lesser Horseshoe Bat, drew a castle in Szymbark as part of the Urban Sketchers Poland happening at the stand of Beskid Podkowca (Horseshoe Bat Beskid), and Zioła, sztuka i o nietoperzach nauka (Herbs, art and bat science fanpage), created paper stained-glass windows and bat stickers with the Projekt Elfryda (Elfrida Project), walked through a labyrinth with Wędrówki z Podkowcem (Horseshoe Bat Walks), counted stained-glass bats with Tomek i Domek (Tom and Home), cut out bat masks and folded origami with the Szymbark castle, took part in shadow theatre with the Fundacja Chlorofil (Chlorophyll Foundation), demonstrated perceptiveness and answered questions with the Polskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Przyrody “pro Natura” (Polish Society of Wildlife Friends ‘pro Natura’), learnt about the literature world of bats with the Klub Czytających Nietoperzy (Reading Bats Club) and the PRZYRODOmaniacy (Nature Geeks), sang a song about the Lesser Horseshoe Bat with Baba z Gór (Woman from the Mountains) and the Sądeckie Centrum Informacji o Podkowcu Małym (Nowy Sącz Lesser Horseshoe Bat Information Centre). There was even more going on!

Those who wished could decorate their hand with glitter or painted bats. Twenty teams exercised their building skills by creating models of the castellum in Szymbark. Workshops to create the scents and rhymes of the Land of the Horseshoe Bat tempted visitors to the Górskie Zmysły (Mountain Senses) stand. Creating a bat from salt mass on a slice of wood was an activity with employees of the Nadleśnictwo Łosie (Łosie Forestry District). Fitness tasks awaited the participants: an obstacle course and a game of ‘bat feeding’ with Daga Jaga (linguistic reference to Baba Yaga). There was opportunity to exercise with needle and thread. Bat stitching took place at the stand of Filcove (Felt) Podkarpacie and Manufaktura Podkowca (Horseshoe Manufactura), and bat inspiration was shared by the Fundacją Iskierka (Spark Foundation).

Knowledge about bats could also be expanded during a meeting with chiropterologists: Rafał Szkudlarek from PTPP ‘pro Natura’ and Wojciech Gubała from the Stowarzyszenie Dziewięćsił (Carlina Association). Michał Włodarczyk of design workshop EUROARTIS talked about bat-safe attic renovations. Knowledge about making bat boxes was shared by Michał Winiarski of Osada Młyńska (Mill Estate), detailed information about bats was also provided by the Sekcja Chiropterologiczna Kpstuj (Kpstuj Chiropterological Section) from Kraków, and ornithological trivia were shared by Tomasz Baziak.

During the event, a certificate of completion of the training course was presented to the 11th Horseshoe Land educator-animator Patrycja Turska Wędrówki z podkowcem (Wandering with the Horseshoe). Congratulations!

The partner of the Night of Museums under the Sign of the Bat was the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Kraków. It is worth recalling that thanks to the Chiroksero project implemented by the institution, the roof sheathing of the castle was replaced and numerous adaptations for bats, designed by Rafał Szkudlarek, were installed.

Information about bat events in the Horseshoe Bat Lands is posted on the Horseshoe Bat Ambassadors (Ambasadorzy podkowca) profile.
Should you be a guide, educator, animator or teacher and would like to talk about bats on tours or in school activities, please contact us: krainapodkowca@gmail.com. We will be happy to keep in touch and provide promotional material.

Photos by Piotrek kadruje