Ecological Education Centre - Exotarium

The Ecological Education Centre Exotarium (Centrum Edukacji Ekologicznej Egzotarium) in Sosnowiec is a palm house with aquariums and terrariums in the city park named after Flying Officer Jan Fusiński. The new building was opened on 2 December 2023 on the site of the old exotarium from the 1950s.

From the old exotarium to the new building

The first building, with a palm house and an aquarium, was built in 1954-1956 in a park laid out in 1935. The idea came from nature lovers on the Exotarium Construction Committee, who wanted Sosnowiec to have a mini zoo with exotic plants and animals. The old collection of aquarium fish consisted of 60 tanks and was the largest in Poland. The building was demolished in 2020, and the new one has 6,686.47 m2 of floor area and is 22.7 m high.

What is inside

The building has three storeys. On the first level there are large aquariums in which swim, among others, the Amazon ghost knifefish, the green terror cichlid, the silver arowana, freshwater stingrays and the pacu piranha, while the terrariums house reptiles and insects such as the Chinese snake, the green anaconda, tarantulas and poison dart frogs. The second level is occupied by the palm house, with plants of the Mediterranean, desert and tropical zones and animals, among them the green iguana, basilisks, the boa constrictor, the spectacled caiman and the toco toucan.

On the third level there is an education room, a space for permanent and temporary exhibitions, an educational cinema and a café. Along the glass façade of the palm house a tank with native reeds has been built, recreating a biotope from the Przemsza river. Since 2023 the exotarium and the park together form a complex called a botanical garden.

Shows and workshops

According to the centre’s website, you can watch koi carp being fed at the entrance every day, and the programme also includes feeding the pacu piranha and the toucan. The centre runs workshops, educational classes and virtual animal adoption. In the zones the temperature reaches as much as 30°C, so the website advises dressing in layers.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego 116, Sosnowiec.
• Check opening hours and visiting rules at cee-egzotarium.sosnowiec.pl.
• The exotarium lies in the city park, and less than a kilometre away are the Stawiki ponds.