Graduation Towers Park

Park Tężniowy (Graduation Towers Park) was laid out in the years 1907-1908 after the transformation of a walking garden established in the 19th century near the graduation tower No. 1. It is currently the largest park in the spa (area of approximately 39 hectares) and, due to the vicinity of the graduation towers, which contribute to the specific microclimate of the place, it has the beneficial qualities of a spa park. Its creation was suggested by Tytus Chałubiński as early as in 1852 during his visit to the spa. Here, you can breathe in the air saturated with salt. The area around the graduation towers went through several transformations.

The oldest part extends from the Plac Gdanski square towards the graduation tower No. 1. This area is mainly used for walking and relaxation. The main walking route, the so-called promenade, is positioned to the south-west, isolated by dense trees. The entrance to the park from Plac Gdański square is embellished by a flower clock designed in the 1930s by Zygmunt Hellwig. It is a flower bed established on a small hill. The colourfully varied plants form the numerals indicating the hours and fill the field of the dial. The composition, which changes every year, requires some 25,000 plants. Styled after the 18th century indexes of a tower clock, the clock hands do indeed move, owing to a mechanism designed by engineer Jan Hibner. The paths lead past extensive lawns (one of which is located on the site of a backfilled pond) to the central part, which is an oval avenue lined with elderly small-leaved lime trees surrounding the monument to Stanisław Staszic by Edward Haupt, unveiled in 1961. Various tree species, mostly deciduous, grow here: red oak, pedunculate oak, multi-stemmed common hornbeam, whitebeam, European ash, sycamore maple, silver maple, Caucasian lime, large-leaved lime, Japanese pagoda tree, and European white elm. Among the shrubs found here are old specimens of Siberian peashrub known as the "yellow acacia", false indigo bush, English dogwood, Tartarian honeysuckle. About one-third of the wood stand is valuable old-growth forest, and many specimens have reached monumental size.

In the 1930s, the Health Park was created between the graduation towers at the initiative of the Association of Spa Doctors. It was designed by Dr Tadeusz Chrapowicki. One of its main attractions was a modern brine pool, active between 1932 and 2001, currently in ruins (private property). It was designed by Romuald Gutt and engineer Aleksander Szniolis. The modernist swimming pool was surrounded by beaches, playing fields, exercise and games areas, and solariums. Closer to the graduation tower No. 1, a game park was created with swings and a swimming pool decorated with little frogs. The recent revitalisation brought new plantings, illuminated fountains, water tanks, a multipurpose field, an outdoors gym, a playground, and a café along Tężniowa street. You can comfortably walk along the graduation tower on the repaved path or relax on one of the many benches and enjoy the beneficial aerosol. The area of the former Millennium Park on Staszica street, on the other hand, is now used for active leisure, offering tennis courts, a climbing wall, a rope park, and a café. A major attraction is the Water Playground with swimming pools, named after Helena Prawdzic-Kuczalska.

Between the swimming pool and the graduation towers No. 2 and No. 3, there is a mostly sodded area which makes for a good sunbathing location. There are few trees here, only with distinctive silvery foliage of wild olives surrounding the buildings of the historic hydrophore plant and brine spring No. 17, where "Krystynka" mineral water is available during the season.