Silesian Park

Silesian Culture and Recreation Park
275px Japan Garden within Silesian Central Park
Type	Urban park
Location	Katowice and Chorzów, Silesia, Poland
Area	620 hectares (1,532.1 acres) 6.2 square kilometres (2.4 sq mi)
Created	1950s/1960s
Status	Open all year
Website	http://www.parkslaski.pl/

Silesian Park managed by WPKiW S.A. (Polish: Park Śląski and Wojewódzki Park Kultury i Wypoczynku S.A., abbreviated as WPKiW and translatable as Voivodeship Park of Culture and Recreation S.A.) is a recreation complex in the center of the Upper-Silesian Metropolis at a border of Chorzów and Katowice in Silesia, Poland.

It is the largest city park of this type in Europe. The area of the park is 620 hectares. By comparison, it's almost twice as big as Central Park in New York.

It was created in the 1950s from an initiative of local politician Jerzy Ziętek to restore an industrially-devastated piece of land in the middle of a highly urbanized area.

In addition to the extensive green area, the following are located in the park:

• Silesian Stadium
• Silesian Zoological Garden
• Silesian Planetarium
• Silesian Amusement Park
• Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park
• Katowice International Fair Grounds
• Stadium of GKS Katowice
• Shooting range
• a swimming-pool complex
• a water sports center
• tennis courts
• the rose-garden
• The Technical Progress Centre
• a hotel complex, the Polish Tourist' Society and the Polish Scouts' Association district centers, restaurants, cafés and show pavilions where flower shows and other exhibits are held.

Gallery

• 

  The Dinosaurs Valley in Silesian Zoological Garden (reconstructions of prehistoric reptiles)

• WPKiW - 01.JPG
• WPKiW - Rzeźba 01.JPG

  One of the many sculptures within Silesian Central Park

• Kolejka chorzow.jpg

External links

• (Polish) Website Park
• (Polish) Website Silesian Planetarium
• (Polish) Gallery (photo)