Gardens

Silesian Park

Silesian Park in Chorzów, formerly the Provincial Park of Culture and Recreation, covers about 535 hectares and ranks among the largest urban parks in Europe. It lies in the heart of the Upper Silesian conurbation, earned the nickname of the region's green lungs, and doubles as the agglomeration's cultural centre, with a stadium, a planetarium, a zoological garden and Poland's oldest amusement park.

Out of spoil tips and mining shafts

The decision to build this largest ecological investment of Upper Silesia was taken in 1950, and work began in July 1951. The driving force was General Jerzy Ziętek, and the site consisted 75 percent of devastated post-industrial wasteland: spoil tips, mining dumps, coke ovens and marshes. For anything to grow, 3.5 million cubic metres of soil were brought in, and planting was carried out largely as community work: around 3.5 million seedlings of 70 species of trees and shrubs were set in the ground. Professor Władysław Niemirski's team divided the park into a quiet forest zone and a cultural-recreational part.

Attractions and greenery

Today the Silesian Zoological Garden, opened in 1954, houses over 2,200 animals of 280 species, and Legendia, an amusement park dating from 1959, remains the oldest such park in Poland. The rosarium is the country's largest rose garden, with more than 35,000 roses of nearly 300 varieties. The 1960s brought the Fala swimming pool, the Elka cable car — the only lowland cable car in Poland — and the Kapelusz exhibition hall, while the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park followed in 1975. The name was shortened to Silesian Park on 16 April 2012.