Spała is a holiday resort on the Pilica River, known for the Olympic Preparation Center located here. In the interwar period, the residence of the President of the Republic of Poland was located here, and every year nationwide presidential harvest festival is held here.
Although the town's history dates back to the 17th century, its proper development began at the end of the 19th century. A hunting lodge was built here, where, among others, Tsar Alexander III and Nicholas II and Emperor Wilhelm II Hohenzollern. After Poland regained independence, Józef Piłsudski, and then the presidents of Poland, had their residence in Spała. At that time, the Church of Our Lady, Queen of the Polish Crown, was also built here. It is a wooden building in the Zakopane style, also known as the Presidential Chapel. In 1927, the Presidential Harvest Festival was organized for the first time in Spała and is held here to this day.
The symbol of Spała is the Bison Statue, which was cast in bronze in 1860 for Białowieża. During World War I, the Russians took him deep into Russia, and after the war he returned to Poland. Initially, it stood in the courtyard of the Castle in Warsaw, but in 1928 it was transported to Spała. At present, a faithful copy of it stands in Białowieża.
Currently, the most famous facility in Spała is the Olympic Preparation Center. Sportsmen prepare for the competition here in the surroundings of the Spała Landscape Park. These are forest areas of great natural and landscape value. One of the biggest attractions of Spała's surroundings is the railway bunker in Konewka, which was part of the "East" Command of the German army during World War II.
