Impact of climatic-meteorological conditions on the Polish wooden cultural heritage: the example of world heritage wooden churches near Krakow

Poland has a large number of wooden churches that require special protection under current climatic conditions. In this study, I collected geographic, land use, hydrological, climate, and meteorological data for the area under investigation. Taking the six wooden churches near Krakow, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as examples, I qualitatively and quantitatively explored the impact of climatic conditions on Poland’s wooden cultural heritage. Our findings include: (i) the region is located at the headwaters of Polish rivers, with higher elevation making it less prone to major floods, thus reducing hydraulic impact on wooden churches; (ii) although the fire risk in the area of the wooden churches studied in this research is relatively low compared to Poland as a whole, the buffer zones of the wooden churches consist mainly of forests, grasslands, and farmland, with a low proportion of artificial surfaces and minimal human activity, leading to significant fire risks, notably, the Church of the Archangel Michael in Binarowa faces the greatest fire risk, with a fire weather index near 50%; (iii) under current climatic conditions, the relative humidity around the wooden churches typically exceeds safe levels for wooden structures year-round, only falling within protective ranges during the summer; (iv) based on historical climate conditions over the past 40 years, the relative humidity in September and total annual precipitation in the study area show a significant increasing trend, indicating that the moisture protection pressure on the wooden churches in the area is expected to increase in the future. Finally, I offer specific guidelines for safeguarding and restoring Poland’s wooden churches, focusing on moisture control, insulation, and drainage. This study is expected to offer potential data and theoretical support for future related work.