Warsaw Uprising Mound

This 31-metre hill in Czerniaków was piled up from the rubble of destroyed Warsaw, and for years maps simply called it "Rubbish Hill". Today the Warsaw Uprising Mound (Kopiec Powstania Warszawskiego), crowned by a giant Fighting Poland anchor symbol, is one of the city's most important memorial sites, and Burza Park (Park Akcji „Burza”) around it won the European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2024. From the top (121 m above sea level) you get a panorama of Warsaw to the south and west.

A monument made of the city's ruins

The idea of building a mound from the ruins of the capital came up as early as 1945. Its champion was engineer Stanisław Gruszczyński of the Capital Reconstruction Office, who suggested names such as "Monument to Destroyed Warsaw", "Warsaw's Grave" and "Freedom Mound"; he died in 1958 without seeing it realised. Rubble was carted to Czerniaków after the war, and refuse lorries were still dumping here in the 1960s, hence the nicknames "Zwałka" (the Dump) and "Śmieciara" (the Rubbish Heap). Other maps labelled it the Czerniaków Mound.

The turning point came with an initiative by Home Army veterans and Lt Col Eugeniusz Ajewski, codename "Kotwa" (Anchor). On 24 March 2004 the city council gave the hill its present name, and for the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 the summit was tidied up, steps were built and the Fighting Poland symbol designed by Ajewski was erected. Since August 2004 the steps have been called Aleja Godziny „W” ("W-Hour Avenue"), after the moment the uprising began.

Burza Park

The park (8.1 ha) was redesigned by the studios topoScape and Archigrest, with work completed in 2023 at a cost of over PLN 24 million. Two routes now lead to the top: steps with resting places and illuminated handrails, and ravines with walls of rubble concrete made from debris dug up during construction. At the Bartycka Street entrance there is an exhibition on the rebuilding of Warsaw, and fragments of the city's ruins are displayed in gabions. The park also has a nature trail with signs in Polish and English, a treetop walkway, a children's area and a dog run, and in 2024 residents planted a Miyawaki micro-forest of more than 2,000 plants here.

What to look for

• The Fighting Poland anchor on a two-level viewing platform, with the date 1944 and a place for a memorial fire.
• Fragments of ruins in gabions at the entrance and along Aleja Godziny „W”.
• Ravine walls of rubble concrete, which are meant to become covered with moss over time.
• An obelisk at the foot of the mound by the car park, with a plaque on its history.

Tripto tip

The park is open 24 hours and free, and it has been adapted for people with disabilities and families with pushchairs – the treetop walkway can also be reached with a wheelchair or buggy from Grupy AK „Północ” Street. Allow about an hour for a walk and the climb to the top. The most moving moment is 1 August at 21:00, when a fire brought by relay from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is lit on the mound. From 1 August to 2 October the symbol on top is lit to look like a flame, so it is worth coming after dark.