A quarry where Steven Spielberg filmed Schindler’s List is set to be turned into a nature reserve after being saved from developers.
The Liban Quarry, located in the southern Polish city of Krakow, was at risk from plans to hand most of the site to property developers to turn it into a park.
In the multi-Oscar-winning movie, parts of the quarry were turned into an exact replica of Nazi Germany’s Plaszow concentration camp.
Now it is to become the preserved permanent home to hundreds of different species of flora and fauna, according to local officials. It is reportedly home to 286 different types of flora and then 40 species of fauna.
Plans to develop it commercially were ditched after a public outcry over the environmental impact.
Now, 15 of the 18 hectares at the site are to become protected land, shielded from developers.
An official statement from the Krakow mayor’s office reportedly read: “The purpose of establishing the Liban Quarry as a place of ecological use has been made to protect the mosaic of spontaneously formed ecosystems in this former limestone quarry.”
It added: “In particular, emphasis will be made on protecting the natural habitats that have rare or protected animal species associated with the aquatic environment and xerothermic grasslands, their refuges and their places of reproduction and seasonal residence.”
The site is also said to be home to valuable underground water systems and rock formations.
The announcement comes after the city’s plan to spend PLN 50 million (GBP 9 million) to transform it into park provoked fury.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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