Kościuszko Park in Katowice

In 1928 two lionesses moved into this Katowice park – a gift from the owner of a circus in Dresden. The lions are long gone, but Tadeusz Kościuszko Park is still the most valuable green space in Katowice: with a 16th-century wooden church on the hill, a parachute tower linked to the defence of the city in September 1939, and paths laid out back in the 19th century.

History: from woodland to South Park

The park's beginnings go back to 1888, when 6 ha of woodland on the edge of town were tidied up. In 1894–1895 the Südpark (South Park) was created, partly on the site of the closed "Beate" coal mine – the pond by Kościuszki Street is a former mine reservoir. In 1903 the city leased 56 ha from the Tiele-Winckler family for 100 years, and a 20-metre Bismarck Tower went up on Beata Hill. From 1912 a tram ran to the park from the market square. Its final layout was the work of gardener Paul Sallmann, director of the city gardens from 1913.

On 16 July 1922 the act transferring part of Upper Silesia to Poland was signed here. In 1925 the park was named after Tadeusz Kościuszko, the 18th-century Polish national hero. The Bismarck Tower was demolished in the 1930s and its stones built into the foundations of the new cathedral. In 1993 the park was listed as a historic monument.

What to see

• The parachute tower – a symbol of the defence of Katowice. The original 50-metre tower was put up in 1938 by the Air and Gas Defence League, a civil-defence organisation. Today's steel structure is a post-war replica: designed in 1947, built in the 1950s and reinforced in 1970. In 2025 it was restored to its original graphite colour and given night-time lighting.
• The wooden Church of St Michael the Archangel on Beata Hill, the highest point of the park – moved here from Syrynia in 1938 and now a branch of the Katowice History Museum.
• The Tadeusz Kościuszko monument, a bandshell, a brick gazebo and a sledging run.
• The Mountaineers' Monument from 2015 and a Red Army soldiers' cemetery, moved here in 1963.
• More than 90 species of trees and shrubs – including beech, hornbeam, lime and maple, with Japanese cherries flowering in spring.

Interesting facts

On 4 September 1939 a group of Scouts tried to defend central Katowice from the parachute tower against the German 239th Infantry Division advancing from the south. An obelisk by the tower honours the fallen Scouts, and commemorations and historical re-enactments are held here every year. Remains of the old two-person electric lift can still be seen inside the tower's frame. Since 2025 the park has also had a small figure of a bebok – a creature from Silesian folklore – called the Silesian Surveyor, marking the spot where the 19th meridian east passes through.

Tripto tip

Trams run along Kościuszki Street, with four stops alongside the park – the easiest way to get here from the centre. Allow 1.5–2 hours for a walk that includes climbing Beata Hill to the church and seeing the parachute tower. The tower is best seen after dark, when the new lighting is on. The park, about 51 ha in size, is managed by the Katowice municipal greenery department (Zakład Zieleni Miejskiej).