Walk in Warsaw: City Center
Saxon Garden, Warsaw / Shutterstock
Saski (Saxon) Gardens
These beautiful gardens, in the very centre of Warsaw, currently cover about 15.5 hectares and are one of the oldest of their kind in Poland. The park, marked out from 1666-1671 by Tylman Van Gemeren, was part of the royal gardens surrounding the yet to be built Saski (Saxon) Palace. Before the war, the park went right up to Żelazna Brama (The Iron Gates). The present borders were set up after the war, together with the extension of Marszałkowska Street to Bankowy Square (Bank Square). Due to the numerous protests of the locals, who didn't want the park to be reduced in size, a big curve in Marszałkowska Street was built to avoid part of the park.
The oldest trees which can be seen here, survived the war and some are 250 years old.There are several sights within the park - an exceptional sun dial built in 1863, which still tells the correct time on a sunny day, a fountain designed by Henryk Marconi from 1852 as well as 25 sandstone allegorical figures presenting virtues, muses and even abstract ideas like 'intellect'. In the part directly next to Fredry Street there is a scenic lake with a water tower providing the water, which was built to a classical design by Henryk Marconi based on the famous Temple of Vesta in Tivoli. In 1965, the Saski Gardens gained a statue of Maria Konopnicka of dubious beauty. Until recently there was also a monument of Stefan Starzyński by Ludwika Nitschowa (the sculptor responsible for the Warsaw Mermaid Monument). The figure was moved in 2008 to the courtyard of primary school nr 143 and the empty plinth was left in the gardens.