Skaryszewski Park

Skaryszewski Park

Situated in Praga Poludnie (South Praga) next to the national stadium, in 2009 the park was awarded the title of the most beautiful park in Poland in a competition organised by Briggs and Stratton. The Ignacy Jan Paderewski Skaryszewski Park, called Skaryszak (scarishak) by the locals, was founded on a Vistula oxbow lake in 1906, thanks to the initiatives of Franciszek Szanior. The wetlands had to be drained, 2 artificial lakes installed and the regained land picturesquely landscaped.

The park, which covers an area of 58 hectares today, had an artificial waterfall, a rose garden and a dahlia garden which unfortunately have not survived. The chocolate company Wedel, which is based near the park, installed the first ever chocolate vending machines in Poland near the main gate. Between the wars, a jetty, tennis courts, a sports centre with a running track and other attractions were added and are still available today. The park also witnessed many unusual events. In 1928 there was a plague of rabbits and to deal with the problem the authorities allowed anyone with a gun to go hunting in the park!  A year earlier the park was flooded by water which overflowed from the Kamionkowskiego Lake and a pumping station was installed in the park to deal with any re-occurence by pumping the water underground to Port Praski nearby.

Skaryszewski Park is the most interesting place in Warsaw on the east side of the river as far as nature is concerned. There are over 20 000 various trees and bushes, including amazing examples of old poplars, lime trees and oaks and some more exotic species like Ginkgo, Amur cork trees and Canadian Coffee trees. There are 50 species of birds, some protected like the grey heron, the black cormorant or buzzards. Some treat the park as their home and others just drop in during their migrations.

Skaryszewski Park is also a place of social meetings and interesting events. For the last few years they have also organised a reconstruction of the Battle of Olszynka Grochowska with participating ?soldiers? from all over Poland as well as Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. There are also many annual sporting events for kids and adults. During Euro 2012 there will also be a fan-zone in the park.