Town Park in Siemianowice Śląskie

The Town Park in Siemianowice Śląskie (Park Miejski) is a historic landscape park of 17.83 ha, laid out in the English style by the former Donnersmarck residence. It lies by Parkowa and Fryderyka Chopina streets and is regarded as the town’s showpiece park.

How the park by the palace came about

The park is part of a palace and park complex whose origins go back to the 17th century, when the estate belonged to the Mieroszewski family. The present palace was built in 1786 as the residence of the Siemianowice-Bytom line of the Donnersmarcks, and the park surrounded it from the south and east. The garden in its present English form was shaped at the end of the 19th century.

After the Second World War an amphitheatre with a summer cinema and café, a playground and a sledging hill were set up in the eastern part of the park. In the 1950s the canal linking the former pond with the present pond was filled in, and a fountain with the Siemion monument was built in its place. The whole complex was entered in the heritage register on 19 April 1982 under number A-1289/82.

What grows in the park

The oldest specimens are five natural monuments in the central part, east of the water body: three pedunculate oaks, a common hornbeam and a Weymouth pine. The thickest of the oaks has a girth of 416 cm, and the hornbeam grows to 30 m.

Among the trees and shrubs are yews, several species of lime, pedunculate and red oaks, maples, a laburnum and a catawba rhododendron. Rarer plants include dawn redwoods (three specimens by the park pond), an Amur cork tree, a star magnolia and a Chinese wisteria. In spring the park is home to, among others, great tits, blue tits, nuthatches and blackbirds, and in winter rooks gather here.

Museum and amphitheatre

In the northern part of the park stands a historic granary, which houses the City Museum in Siemianowice Śląskie. The park also has an amphitheatre, where performances for children and concerts by bands are held.

Nearby

• About 3 km away, in Chorzów, lies the Silesian Park.
• The Silesian Planetarium is the same distance from the park.
• It is about 7 km to Będzin Castle.

Practical information

• Location: Siemianowice Śląskie, around Parkowa and Chopina streets.
• The park is a monument entered in the register; the opening hours and rules of entry are best checked before your visit on the town’s website.
• The museum hours and dates of events in the amphitheatre are given by the City Museum and the town.