Geographia Polonica 2016, Volume 89, Issue 2, pp. 129-140 http://dx.doi.org/10.7163/GPol.0050 INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES www.igipz.pan.pl www.geographiapolonica.pl INVESTIGATING OPENNESS OF THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: A METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL Joanna Plit 1 • Urszula Myga-Piątek 2 1 Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw: Poland e-mail: plitjo@twarda.pan.pl 2 Faculty of Earth Science University of Silesia Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec: Poland e-mail: urszula.myga-piatek@us.edu.pl Abstract Openness and closure, understood as a physiognomic property of landscape, characterises the possibility of ob- serving far out horizons and broad vistas. The degree of openness of landscape can be treated as a synthetic indica- tor of the evolution of the natural-cultural environment. A change in the degree of openness / closure of landscape is a lengthy historical-cultural process, lasting hundreds or even thousands of years. It has different course and dynamics in various climatic and vegetation zones. The purpose of the present article is to propose and describe a method of assessment and interpretation of the degree of actual openness of the cultural landscape and to dis- cuss the results obtained, and of comparing the methodology proposed with analogous European elaborates. The average percentage of openness of landscape was assessed according to five classes. The source base for the study was constituted by the satellite images, Corine Land Cover maps, made legible through comparison with the land use maps presenting the state as of the turn of the 21st century. The method here proposed allows for the assessment of the continuous variability of landscapes, expressing the gradient from open to closed landscapes. Key words landscape physiognomy • indicator of openness • closure of landscape • Poland Introduction In the world literature the considera- tions dominate concerning the opening up of the landscapes in connection with the felling of the equatorial forests and the global consequences of this activity. The opposite processes – those of clos- ing of the landscapes – which dominate nowadays in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, are perceived much less frequently.