Modrzewie Park in Elbląg

This park was once home to the grandest villa in Elbląg – the residence of Carl Ziese, son-in-law of the industrialist Ferdinand Schichau, where an organ played in the music room, the King of Saxony came to visit and dinner was served for 80 guests. The villa has been gone since 1961, but Modrzewie Park ("Larch Park") has kept its avenues, steps, gateway and historic trees. It is a quiet green walk away from the Old Town – as long as you know which traces to look for.

History: "the Krupps of the East"

Ferdinand Schichau founded a works in Elbląg (then Elbing) in 1837 that grew into a shipyard and locomotive factory. Carl Ziese (1848–1917), an engineer born in Moscow, married Schichau's daughter and took over the firm after his father-in-law died. His small villa on today's Królewiecka Street was not grand enough, so Ziese bought suburban estates and in 1903 completed a new residence designed by Bodo Ebhardt – a historicist, castle-like house on a hill with an octagonal corner tower.

The interiors were lavish: the music room held eight mountain panoramas of the Matterhorn by the painter Theodor Compton, a grand piano and a 10-stop organ by the Sauer company, and the dining room could seat 80 guests. Artists, engineers and bankers came here, and in April 1912 the villa was visited by King Frederick Augustus of Saxony. Before the war the estate also had a conservatory and a sports complex with a stadium, a tennis court and a shooting range.

The villa's decline

After Ziese's death in 1917 the estate went into decline. In 1929 the city took over the villa; there were plans for a crematorium, but it became a Nazi party school and, at the end of the war, a military hospital. After 1945 the building was vandalised and in 1961 it was demolished. Archaeological work in 2011, 2014 and 2015 uncovered its foundations.

What to see

The trees are the main attraction. Besides the larches that gave the park its name, you will find Caucasian wingnut, eastern hemlock and mighty oaks. The park's boundaries and main avenues are as they were before the war. According to historical accounts, these remains of the old estate survive:

• avenues with decorative kerbs near the former entrance to the villa,
• stone steps and the plinth of a lost sculpture,
• the gatehouse and gate posts,
• a disused lookout tower on Sandy Hill, styled as a lighthouse.

The park is also used as a film location – it is listed in the Warmia-Masuria Film Fund's location database. The city's guide, in turn, describes it as a park with remains of a manor-and-park complex and historic trees.

Tripto tip

The park is public and free to enter; the entrance is at ul. Mazurska 11. Allow 30–60 minutes, a bit longer if you want to hunt for traces of the villa – the steps and the tower best show how large the residence was. It is loveliest in autumn, when the larches turn gold. After rain the paths can be muddy or slippery, so wear sturdy shoes.