Spa Park in Busko-Zdrój

Busko-Zdrój owes its fame to sulphurous waters, and its green heart is the Spa Park — a fenced bath garden covering 16 ha in the south of the town. At its centre stand Henryk Marconi's classicist Baths of 1836, while the new western part of the park holds one of Poland's largest graduation towers. A walk here combines 19th-century spa history with a modern open-air cure.

History: a general, a gardener and an Italian architect

The first natural-healing establishment in Busko was created by General Feliks Rzewuski, who leased the former monastery estate from 1820 and opened a makeshift spa in 1828. The park was laid out by the gardener Ignacy Hanusz, and the Baths were designed by the Italian architect Henryk Marconi. Dr Jakub Enoch saw the bath house through to completion, and the Baths were formally opened on 1 June 1836. The park was created in 1833–1835.

The park also remembers turbulent times. January Uprising insurgents are said to have retreated through it after the Battle of Grochowiska, and in 1905 conspirators and members of the Polish Military Organisation met here. Admission tickets to the park were only abolished in 1952.

What to see

• The Baths, now the “Marconi” sanatorium — the town's oldest sanatorium, modelled on Roman public buildings, with a concert hall in the main wing.
• The concert shell and the Avenue of Stars in front of the Marconi's main entrance, with “suns” for Krystyna Jamroz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wiesław Ochman and Bogusław Kaczyński, among others.
• The brine graduation tower handed over in December 2020: a circle about 72 m across and 220 m round, with blackthorn walls totalling 560 m in length and nearly 10 m high, plus a terrace more than 8 m up. Next to it stands the Spa House with a pump room, a year-round mini graduation tower and tourist information, and in front a multimedia fountain.
• St Anne's Chapel from 1884–1886 and the “Imosówka” — the gardener's house to Marconi's design, rebuilt in 1982.

Did you know?

Around 4,500 trees grow in the park, about 12% of them more than 110 years old. Besides common maples, ashes and limes there are rarities such as eastern hemlock and Russian olive. The Mickiewicz Avenue promenade, 859 m long, links the park with the town centre.

Tripto tips

Allow 1.5–2 hours for the old park and the graduation tower. Come in the morning before the tower gets busy, and finish by walking along Mickiewicz Avenue to the market square. Access to the graduation tower and its terrace may require a ticket — check current rules and hours at the information point in the Spa House.