����wi��tokrzyskie Mountains are among the oldest mountain massifs in Europe. Rocky soils and steep slopes (despite relatively low heights above MSL, with peaks slightly over 600 m) created adverse conditions for agriculture and were conducive to the preservation of large forest complexes. Moreover, the area is isolated from other mountains and located farther north, which could significantly affect the survival of relict elements of biocenosis, both the climatic and habitat relicts, typical for the forests of primeval character. The first mentions of some beetle species in the area of the present ����wi��tokrzyski National Park (��NP) come from the first half of the 19th century and until the end of the 20th century there were only few published papers on the issue, usually in the form of short communications. The research on beetles was intensified in the 1950s and 1980s, due to the establishment of the ��NP (in 1950) and complex faunistic research conducted in the ��wi��tokrzyskie Mountains (in the firs half of the 1980s). The result of the research and observations in this 150-years-long period was a list of nearly 750 species of Coleoptera recorded from the Park. The 21st century brought a significant revival in the research on the analysed order of insects in the ��NP. Besides numerous articles and communications, the results of complex research on saproxylic beetles in the forest ecosystems of the ��wi��tokrzyskie Mountains, including ��NP, were published. The works carried out in first years of the 21st century increased the number of beetle species known from the Park to over 1,400 taxa. Research involving inventory and monitoring techniques began in the Park in 2009, preceded with initial observations carried out since 2006. Sampling methods were based mainly on catching with different trap types, including pheromone traps. Other methods of collecting samples and analysing published data, commonly used for Coleoptera, were applied. As a result, until 2020 nearly 1,450 species of beetles were recorded, of which almost 800 had not been mentioned from the Park before (the next ca. 650 species had been formerly recorded in the ��NP, and the research confirmed their presence). Results of the research, along with abundant faunistic data from numerous publications, indicate that the present state of knowledge of the Park's Coleoptera can be regarded as good. The total number of 2,176 species (representing 92 families) recorded from the ��NP constitutes about 35% of Polish beetle fauna. The substantial majority of species found in the Park are connected with various types of forest ecosystems, which results from the domination of woods in the ��NP's area (95%). However, although non-forest ecosystems (meadows, sandstone blockfields, dry grasslands) cover less than 5% of the Park's area, Coleoptera characteristic of open habitats are also represented by numerous species. It applies mainly to such families as Chrysomelidae, Apionidae or Curculionidae, in which the abundance of species is directly connected with the species richness of plants �� food for beetles which are often mono- or oligophagous. Among the beetles of the ��NP there are several species classified as mountain and boreo-mountain zoogeographic elements, as well as species which are probably climatic relicts of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (Amara erratica, Orithales serraticornis, Gonioctena intermedia, Otiorhynchus lepidopterus), when Central Europe was in the periglacial climate and their populations survived in the ��ysog��ry Range due to specific microclimate of sandstone blockfields ("go��oborza") and their surroundings. Data on the occurrence of several species (e.g. Amara erratica, Lucanus cervus, Rosalia alpina and Boros schneideri) should be considered historical, as they were not confirmed by contemporary research. It is difficult to categorically declare them extinct in the Park ��there is a chance that sparse populations, which are hard to detect, still exist here and their presence will be confirmed if specific sampling methods are used. Several alien species of beetles were found in the Park, introduced to Europe in distant or recent past from remote geographic regions and potentially dangerous to local biodiversity. However, majority of alien species occur in the natural and semi-natural habitats of the ��NP sporadically, and only Harmonia axiridis, locally abundant, can have more significant impact on the functioning of the Park's ecosystems. The present conservation status of beetle communities in the ��NP can be assessed as favourable. In the case of woodland species, it can be attributed to the passive protection of natural processes and their effects, implemented in the first decade of the 21st century and applied to the greater part of forest ecosystems. To protect beetles inhabiting meadows, dry grasslands and specific forest habitats (e.g. open, insolated woods), active conservation measures are employed, stabilising and sometimes restoring such habitats. The activities are similar to historical forms management, and include mowing and removal of shrub. Active protection measures help to preserve, and in some places maybe even to restore favourable conservation status of numerous beetle species (mainly phytophagous Chrysomelidae, Apionidae and Curculionidae). Therefore, the only present threats to the beetle fauna of the ��NP are the external pressures, which, unfortunately, still increase in intensity. The major threat is settlement and urbanisation of areas immediately adjacent to the Park, as it involves such pressures as light pollution from property and street lights, as well as littering by people penetrating Park's area along paths and trails, either legally or not �� bottles and cans are remarkably efficient traps, killing significant amounts of ground beetles. Another important pressure, dangerous for the ��NP's entomofauna, including beetles, is the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture and application of insecticides in the areas surrounding the Park. Exclusion of native, diverse flora by geographically alien, invasive plant species (e.g. Solidago gigantea and S. canadensis) is a serious threat to beetle species richness. It results in deterioration of trophic conditions for numerous phytophagous beetles, which often depend entirely on specific herbaceous plant species. Although the species composition of the ����wi��krzyski National Park's beetle fauna can be regarded as typical for the lowland and upland woods of Central Europe, a significant number of species (nearly 100), connected with forests of natural character, called 'old forest species', attracts special attention. Some of them (about 40) can be regarded as relicts of primeval forests, which covered the majority of Europe, and the present area of Poland, in the prehistoric times. The group includes, e.g. Rhysodes sulcatus, Tachyusida gracilis, Ampedus melanurus and Cucujus haematodes. Other species are connected with microhabitats characteristic of natural forests; however, in the contemporary cultural landscape, they occur also outside the natural habitats �� not only in managed forests (on condition that specific microhabitats are present), but also in various types of old tree stands, in old parks or roadside alleys. Among them there are e.g. Osmoderma barnabita, Elater ferrugineus, and Neomida haemorrhoidalis. The analysis of the old forest species' presence in individual protection areas of the ��NP indicates that the majority of Park's forest ecosystems remained its natural character (or in some places semi-natural character, yet with abundance of old trees, resembling forests with natural ecological structure), or locally even primeval character, which is proven by the high share of primeval forest relict species in the beetle fauna. It underlines the remarkable natural value of the Park, as a refuge of the relict forest biocenosis, important on the regional, national and, probably, also European scale.