Warsaw Parks
Parks in Warsaw
There are as many as 82 parks in Warsaw which cover 8% of the city area. The oldest ones, once parts of representative palaces, are Saxon Garden, the Krasinski Palace Garden, the Royal Baths Park, the Wilanów Palace Park and the Królikarnia Palace Park.
The Saxon Garden
The Saxon Garden (Polish: Ogród Saski) is a 15.5 hectare public garden in Warsaw's Downtown (Sródmiescie), facing Pilsudski Square, and is the oldest public park in Warsaw. Founded in the late 17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727 as one of the first publicly accessible parks in the world. Initially a baroque French-style park, in the 19th century it was turned into a Romantic English-style landscape park. Destroyed during and after the Warsaw Uprising, it was partly reconstructed after World War II.
Krasinski Palace Garden
In the 19th century the Krasinski Palace Garden was remodelled by Franciszek Szanior. Within the central area of the park you can still find old trees dating from that period including maidenhair tree, black walnut, Turkish hazel and Caucasian wingnut trees. With its benches, flower beds, a pond with ducks and a playground for the kids, the Krasinski Palace Garden is a popular destination for Varsovians.
The Royal Baths Park
The Baths Park, or Royal Baths (Polish: Park Lazienkowski, or Lazienki Królewskie) is the largest park in Warsaw, Poland, occupying 76 hectares of the city center. The park-and-palace complex lies in Warsaw's Downtown (Sródmiescie), on Ujazdów Avenue (Aleje Ujazdowskie) on the "Royal Route" linking the Royal Castle with Wilanów, to the south. North of the Baths Park (Park Lazienkowski), on the other side of Agrykola Street, stands Ujazdów Castle.
Lazienki Park was designed in the 17th century by Tylman van Gameren, in the baroque style, for Stanislaw Herakliusz Lubomirski. It took the name Lazienki ("Baths") from a bathing pavilion that was located there. In 1764 the gardens were acquired by Stanislaw August Poniatowski after his election as King of Poland. The development of the classicist-style gardens became a major project for Stanislaw August during his reign.
The park-and-palace complex was designed by Domenico Merlini, Johann Christian Kammsetzer and landscape gardener Jan Christian Schuch. Its principal buildings cluster around or near the Lazienki Lake and Lazienki River. Stanislaw August's palace situated on the lake is called the "Palace on the Water."
Most of the park's buildings burned during and after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, amid fighting between German and Polish forces. The structures nevertheless were relatively well-preserved, compared to the Old Town (the Germans had drilled holes in the palace walls for placement of explosives but had not gotten around to detonating them). Reconstruction of the park and palaces was completed within a few years after World War II.
Go to Lazienki Palace page.
Wilanów Palace Park
The Wilanów Palace Park, dates back to the second half of the 17th century. It covers an area of 43 ha. Its central French-styled area corresponds to the ancient, baroque forms of the palace. The eastern section of the park, closest to the Palace, is the two-level garden with a terrace facing the pond.
Królikarnia Palace
The park around the Królikarnia Palace is situated on the old escarpment of the Vistula. The park has lanes running on a few levels deep into the ravines on both sides of the palace.
Other Green Spaces
Other green spaces in the city include the Botanic Garden and the University Library garden. They have extensive botanical collection of rare domestic and foreign plants, while a palm house in the New Orangery displays plants of subtropics from all over the world.
The flora of the city can be considered very rich in species. The species richness is mainly due to the location of Warsaw within the border region of several big floral regions comprising substantial proportions of close-to-wilderness areas (natural forests, wetlands along the Vistula) as well as arable land, meadows and forests. Bielany Forest, located within the borders of Warsaw, is the remaining part of the Masovian Primeval Forest. Bielany Forest nature reserve is connected with Kampinos Forest. It is home to rich fauna and flora. Within the forest there are three cycling and walking trails.
About 15 km from Warsaw, the Vistula river's environment changes strikingly and features a perfectly preserved ecosystem, with a habitat of animals that includes the otter, beaver and hundreds of bird species.