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The Silesia Park

The Silesia Park is a city park in Chorzów, which occupies the surface of 620 hectares or, according to another source of information, 520 hectares. It is one of the largest city parks in Europe. The park is known as the „green lungs” of Upper Silesia.

One of the main initiators of the establishment of the park was general Jerzy Ziętek. The decision to construct this largest ecological investment in the Upper Silesia was made in 1950, during the meeting of the Provincial National Council in Katowice. The area of the investment was 75% devastated, post-industrial areas: post-minig waste, poor glass, swamps and landfills.

Construction began in July of 1951. It was fulfilled mostly by social acts. Apart from that, donations were also gathered. The basic purpose of the team of architects lead by professor Władysław Niemirski was to divide the park into two zones with the use of the already existing topographic layout. So, the central part of the park was designed as an area with a forest character, criss-crossed by a network of roads, alleys and walking routes. The remaining part of the park, approximately

13 hectares, was designed as areas with a cultural-recreational character and an area for active relaxation.

In the 1950s and 1960s, new investments were established in the park, such as a stadium, a zoo, a fun fair and an obsaervatory. In 1957, a route of a narrow-gauge raiwlay was opened for business, with the length of more than 5 kilometers, and in 1967 – an „Elka” cable railway was also opened.

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