Kokoryczowe Wzgórze (Corydalis Hill), Poznań

In late winter the slopes of the former palace park in Radojewo, on the northern edge of Poznań, turn yellow with winter aconites – plants that once escaped here from the palace garden. A few weeks later the woodland floor turns purple and white with flowering corydalis, which gives the place its name: Kokoryczowe Wzgórze, Corydalis Hill. Under the trees you will also find artificial ruins, the old owners' family cemetery and protected plane trees.

History: from Cistercian nuns to the von Treskows

From the mid-13th century, for more than 500 years, Radojewo belonged to the Cistercian convent in Owińska on the other side of the Warta. After the final partition of Poland the Prussian authorities confiscated the convent's estates, and they were bought by Berlin banker Sigismund Otto von Treskow. In 1825 he built a palace for his son Heinrich on the escarpment above the Warta valley, aligned on a sightline with the family's palace in Owińska; the design is attributed to Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The family lived here until 1945.

Around the palace a romantic landscape park of about 15 hectares was laid out by the royal gardener from Potsdam, Peter Joseph Lenné. In keeping with the fashion of the day it was given an artificial ruin, a chapel and a family cemetery. Radojewo became part of Poznań in 1987. The palace, owned by the city, has stood empty since 2004 with its windows bricked up, while the park is managed by the Łopuchówko State Forest District.

What to see

• Spring carpets of flowers – first yellow winter aconites, then hollowroot and fumewort corydalis, alongside wood anemones, hepaticas and snowdrops.
• Artificial ruins on the hill – a romantic 19th-century park folly.
• The von Treskow family cemetery – neglected and partly vandalised, yet every year on 1 November (All Saints' Day) local people light candles here.
• A London plane tree protected as a natural monument, and a short avenue of six planes.
• Two glacial boulders on the hilltop, surrounded by local legends.
• The woods on the slopes – riverine slope forest with oaks and elms and a patch of oak-hornbeam woodland, with plenty of deadwood.

The “In Search of Green Energy” nature trail, 1.5 km long with 9 stops, runs through the park. In spring you can hear drumming woodpeckers, nuthatches, blackbirds and great tits, and common frogs in the woodland ponds. Slow worms and grass snakes sometimes bask on the path.

Did you know?

On 13 December 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte rode through Radojewo on his way to see the convent in Owińska. According to Dezydery Chłapowski's account, the emperor nearly got stuck with his horse in the mud before crossing the Warta by ferry. On 29 July 2023 a footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists linking Radojewo with Owińska opened on the site of the old ferry. Since the 1990s naturalists have been calling for the park to be made a nature reserve.

Tripto tip

The best time is late winter and early spring – flowering depends on the weather, so follow updates from the foresters. Allow about an hour for the trail. The terrain is hilly, some paths are steep and muddy after rain, so wear shoes with good grip; a pushchair won't manage everywhere. Don't leave the paths to photograph flowers, and don't pick them. View the palace from outside only – it has stood empty for years and is falling into ruin. You can easily extend the walk across the footbridge to Owińska.