Gardens

Palace Park in Białowieża

At the end of the 19th century, a park in the English style was laid out around the hunting residence of the Russian tsars in Białowieża. Today the Palace Park is a designated enclave of the Białowieża National Park and a natural introduction to visiting the forest. Of the palace itself, which stood on the hill in the park, only the gate survives.

Traces of tsars and kings

By the ponds laid out in the valley of the Narewka river, which flows at the foot of the hill, stands an obelisk commemorating the hunt of Augustus III of Saxony in September 1752, during which the king and his wife killed 42 bison. The event went down in the forest's history as one of the most notorious. The gate of the tsarist residence is now one of the park's recognisable landmarks.

Nature and the museum

Nineteenth-century buildings stand in the park, including a historic manor house from 1845 that houses the National Park's Nature Education Centre. The biggest attraction is the Natural History Museum with a viewing tower overlooking the crowns of the forest trees. The park lies on Parkowa Street in the very centre of Białowieża — a village on a glade in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, on the Narewka — so it works best as a starting point for walks into the strict reserve.