Giszowiec Park

Giszowiec Park (Park Giszowiecki) is the green centre of the company estate of Giszowiec in Katowice, laid out in 1907-1910 together with homes for miners. It covers 3.378 ha and has an old beech stand preserved from the former forest.

A park in a garden estate

The park was created together with the estate built on commission from the company Georg von Giesches Erben on the initiative of Anton Uthemann. The designers of the estate and the park were Georg and Emil Zillmann. Before construction the site was covered by mixed forest, from which the deciduous trees were left.

The park lies in the centre of the garden-city layout, near plac Pod Lipami and Gościnna, Wesołowska and Działkowa streets. In 1978 part of the estate was entered in the heritage register, and the present park and the neighbouring inn were also placed under protection.

What to see

The old stand is formed by beeches whose age is estimated at 150-200 years, and some are said to reach 250 years. In the middle of the park stands a plinth with a mesh globe, put up in 1910 at the geometric centre of the estate.

The park has a bandstand from around 1910, beside which fairs for residents were organised, and in summer concerts and open-air events take place. There are also benches, chess tables, a boules court, a petanque pitch and an outdoor gym.

From the park's history

After the Second World War the park belonged to the "Wieczorek" mine, then to "Staszic", and in 1999 the city of Katowice took it over. The fairs by the bandstand faded in the 1980s, and since 2010 the park has officially been called Giszowiec Park.

Practical information

• Location: the central part of the Giszowiec district of Katowice.
• The park is closed at night to protect it from vandalism.
• South of the park runs green cycle route no. 121 through Nikiszowiec, Giszowiec and Dolinka Murckowska.
• Not far away lies Nikiszowiec, the second workers' housing estate, about 2.6 km away.