Legnica Municipal Park

Park Miejski (the Municipal Park) in Legnica is the oldest and largest park in the city, covering 58 hectares in the central part of Legnica, within the Stare Miasto and Ochota cadastral areas. It is an extensive green area with numerous recreational facilities, traces of former garden layouts and tree stands over a hundred years old.

History of the founding

The first mentions of this land go back to 1316, when the town bought extensive meadows adjoining today's ulica Mickiewicza from Duke Bolesław III. The park owes its present shape to works carried out between 1815 and 1831 to a design by landscape architect Eduard Petzold. In 1810 a maze garden covering 50 morgens was created here, and a year later a spring of healing waters was discovered, next to which the Legnica pharmacist Hedemann built a mineral water pump room in 1860. Between 1835 and 1845 the parish cemeteries located on this land were removed. In March 2010 the park was entered on the list of heritage sites.

What you will find in the park

The central feature is Kozia Staw, a pond covering 2 hectares, modernised between 1877 and 1879. Nearby stands the Summer Theatre from 1928, built on the basis of a former Shooting House, which for over a decade after the war served as a discotheque. The park is also home to a Palm House from 1898, with a volume of 3,180 cubic metres and a dome 13.1 metres high. There is also the Grove of the Muses with a pergola and a pond, a concert shell from 1975-1976, a complex of fountains, a stadium with an artificial training pitch, a skatepark and a Jordan garden (a public children's playground). In 1872 a sculpture of a dying lion was placed here, and in 1926 the park was the venue of the GUGALI Exhibition, for which a complex of fifty fountains was built.

Greenery and nature

Around 130 species of trees and shrubs grow in the park, both native and exotic, including numerous poplars and lime trees. The tree stand suffered during the storm of 23 July 2009, which destroyed around 2,500 trees, but the park has retained to this day the character of an extensive, wooded park complex in the city centre.

Nearby

A walk through the park is easy to combine with sightseeing in the centre of Legnica. Less than a kilometre away stands the Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and not far away also the Piast Castle and the Copper Museum. The Market Square in Legnica is also close to the park.

Practical information

• Village: Legnica, the park lies in the central part of the city, within the Stare Miasto and Ochota areas.
• Admission is free, the grounds are open.
• Not to be missed: Kozia Staw, the Palm House, the Summer Theatre, the concert shell, avenues of old trees.
• It is worth checking the opening hours of the individual facilities within the park (the Palm House, the Summer Theatre) before your visit.