Silesian Botanical Garden in Radzionków

On Księża Góra hill in Radzionków, nature is reclaiming land that miners dug up for centuries. The Silesian Botanical Garden in Radzionków is a habitat garden: instead of neat flowerbeds it shows meadows, grasslands and thickets that are becoming ever rarer in the Silesian landscape. Walking around it, you pass the remains of an old calamine (zinc ore) mine and a dolomite quarry.

History: from mine to garden

Księża Góra has an industrial past. Calamine ore was mined here, and the largest local quarry, "Maciej", was linked by a narrow-gauge railway to the lime kilns in Szarlej. The town of Radzionków and the Silesian Botanical Garden association agreed to create a second branch of the garden here (the first is in Mikołów). In October 2010 Poland's General Director for Environmental Protection approved the new botanical garden, and it officially opened in May 2015 – one of the youngest botanical gardens in the country.

What to see

The garden covers about 16 ha, most of it collections built on the vegetation that grew here before the garden existed. Traces of mining are everywhere: numerous warpie – small circular spoil heaps – and pingi, hollows left where shafts were filled in or collapsed, often filled with water. The collections fall into three groups:

• habitat collections – fresh and wet meadows, sandy and dry calcareous grasslands, heathland, tree stands and broom scrub,
• conservation collections – old varieties of fruit trees and a "chronological bed" of cereals domesticated by humans in successive eras,
• ornamental collections – trees and shrubs, roses, rhododendrons, and honey plants and herbs.

Along the way you will also find wooden animal sculptures in the former quarry.

Tripto tip

The habitat collections are best seen in late spring and summer, when the meadows and grasslands are in full growth. Allow 1–1.5 hours for a walk and wear comfortable shoes – the ground is uneven. The garden's office is at ul. Księżogórska 90a; check opening hours and entry rules before you go. The visit combines easily with the recreation park on Księża Góra.