Seen as a cult attraction by urbex photographers and selfie-seeking Instagrammers, the ten-meter strawberry is all that remains of an operation that once harbored ambitions to become the largest strawberry producer on the planet. Set on the fringes of a village called Wierzbica, Sadpol was founded by Janusz Glinicki in those early, wild years of the post-Communist transformation.
Specializing in strawberries, Glinicki’s farm grew to cover between 400 and 750 hectares (depending on which source you choose to believe) and employed, at its peak, over 1,000 people. Without a doubt, it became one of the most significant strawberry farms in the world, with exports reaching the furthest corners of Europe.