Spa Park in Ciechocinek

The Spa Park, also called the Main Park, is the largest of Ciechocinek's four parks, covering about 19 ha. You stroll here among old trees and wooden buildings in the “Swiss style” that has been the spa's trademark since the 19th century. At its centre stands a wooden concert shell from 1909, and the former mineral water pump room houses a concert hall and the “Bristol” café.

History of the park

The park grew out of a pleasure garden laid out in 1851 beside Karol Müller's hotel, together with a promenade gallery designed by Franciszek Tournelle. It was given its present form in 1872–1875 to a design by Hipolit Cybulski, modified and refined by Franciszek Szanior. A new promenade gallery replaced the old one after it burnt down.

In 1880–1881 the mineral water pump room designed by Edward Cichocki was built — a timber-frame structure clad in boards, with a turreted annexe on the east side, remodelled between the wars. In 1909 a wooden concert shell in the Zakopane style designed by Paweł Fedders was erected in the middle of the park.

What to see

• The concert shell — stage of the Opera and Operetta Festival, the Grand Gala of Tenors, the Ciechocinek Blues Festival and the Folklore Festival of Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land.
• The Swiss-style pump room, now with a concert hall and the “Bristol” café.
• Old trees: maples, oaks, limes and spruces, alongside eastern hemlock, ginkgo, Caucasian wingnut and American tulip tree. More than 140 plant species grow in the park.
• The pedunculate oak “Konstanty” — a protected natural monument more than 22 m tall. Sources differ on the trunk girth: 390 cm or 547 cm.
• The “Hansel and Gretel” fountain and summer flower beds.

Did you know?

The wooden “Swiss” architecture is not postcard decoration: since the pump room was built in 1881 it has defined the character of the whole of Ciechocinek and is repeated in later spa buildings. Fedders' concert shell, in turn, is a rare example of the Zakopane style in Kuyavia.

Tripto tips

Allow 45–90 minutes for a leisurely walk, longer if you catch a concert in the shell. The park is in the town centre near Kościuszki Street, and the brine graduation towers and the “Grzybek” fountain are easy to add to the same route. The town publishes the concert programme and news; the Tourist Information Office at Zdrojowa 2b can help with questions.