The Kościuszko Park, which has existed since 1925, is one of the most famous and frequented

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is situated at the street of the same name. Its foundation dates back to 1888 when a municipal park was founded on the 6 ha area of suburban grove. The present area of the park is 72 ha. Its arrangement is influenced by English gardens-parks, which is emphasized by an alley of

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

s turned to wild. There are

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

arrangements on the flower-beds and

pergola A pergola is most commonly used as an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support crossbeams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are t ...

s and classicistic gardens. After dusk the park is lit by stylish street lamps. In the park there are several structures, such as a commemorative plaque funded for the patron,

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

, by the people of Katowice in 1925. The

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

tower also dates back to that time. It is currently being rebuilt to its height of 40 m; it was erected as a training structure. Not far from it there is a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

commemorating the heroic participation of scouts in the defence of the town against the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

invaders in 1939. Two wooden structures,

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

, a manorial granary from 1688 (burnt in 1970) and the Church of St. Michael Archangel, a wooden church under the invocation of St. Michael from 1510 moved from Syrynia, were placed in the park. The park also houses a permanent gallery of plein-air sculpture, collecting works of famous artists of the region: Zygmunt Brachmanski, Augustyn Dyrda, Joachim Krakowczyk, Piotr Latoska, Jacek Sarapata, Andrzej Szczepaniec. In winter children can use a

toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled used in snowy winter recreation. It is also a traditional form of cargo transport used by the Innu, Cree and Ojibwe of North America, sometimes part of a dog train. It is used on snow to carry one or more people (o ...

track and a ski route. The

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

soldiers who died in 1945 are also buried there. The Park Hall, erected in the 1950s, is situated opposite the park and holds 3.500 people. At present it is a grocery/supermarket. Nearby there is a military cemetery from the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, and toward the centre there is a sports stadium of the Physical Training Academy.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosciuszko Park 1925 establishments in Poland Parks in Katowice