Jan Kochanowski Park
{{Short description|Urban park, 20th century, Bydgoszcz, Poland}}
{{Infobox park
| name = Jan Kochanowski Park
| alt_name =
| native_name = {{langx|pl|Park Jana Kochanowskiego w Bydgoszczy}}
| native_name_lang =
| image = File:Park Jana Kochanowskiego w Bydgoszczy 2 2023.jpg
| image_size = 270
| image_alt = Jan Kochanowski Park
| image_caption = Jan Kochanowski Park
| type =
| motto =
| location = Bydgoszcz, {{flag|Poland}}
| coords_ref =
| coordinates = {{coord|53|07|47|N|18|00|42|E|region:PL_type:landmark|display=title}}
| area = {{convert|3.15|ha|m2}}
| elevation = {{convert|50|m|ft}}
| authorized =
| created = {{start date|1901}}
| established =
| designated =
| opened =
| opening =
| closed =
| founder =
| designer = Konrad Neumann
| etymology =
| owner = City of Bydgoszcz
| administrator =
| status =
| habitat =
| water =
| plants =
| vegetation =
| species =
| collections =
| publictransit =
| other_info =
| facilities =
}}
Jan Kochanowski Park is a green area covering 3,15 ha, located in downtown Bydgoszcz, Poland. It is part of the "Music district in Bydgoszcz" ({{langx|pl|Dzielnica muzyczna w Bydgoszczy}}) and is named after the Polish renaissance poet, Jan Kochanowski.
Location
The park is located in an area urbanized at the beginning of the 20th century. The park is rectangular, with dimensions 120 × 250 m, and is delineated by the following avenues:
Due to the proximity of several musical institutions (Pomeranian Philharmonic, Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz Music Academy, Music Schools Group), as well as the outdoor gallery of monuments of composers and virtuoso, the park and its surroundings are called Music district in Bydgoszcz.
History
File:Park Kochanowskiego philarmonia.jpg and High School Nr.6]]
The park has been designed by Konrad Neumann, then director of the Municipal gardens of Bromberg in 1901; its initial surface was {{convert|2.8|ha|m2}}. It was part of urban plans laid out in 1903, and developed through 1911{{cite book |last=Bręczewska-Kulesza |first=Daria|year=2015 |title=Rola historycznej i współczesnej zieleni publicznej w życiu miast na przykładzie Bydgoszczy |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Czasopismo Kultura-Historia-Globalizacja |language=pl}} The design was inspired from English gardens, with about 80 species of trees and ornamental trees, mainly endemical native species.{{cite book |last=Umiński |first=Janusz |year=1996 |title=Bydgoszcz. Przewodnik |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Regionalny Oddział PTTK „Szlak Brdy” |isbn=8390528207}} The main entrance was located at Bismark Platz, today at the junction between Słowackiego and January 20, 1920, streets. The northern edge on Bulöw Straße (Adam Mickiewicz Alley) was a lawn planted with roses and low shrubs.{{cite book |last=Kuczma |first=Rajmund |year=1995 |title=Zieleń w dawnej Bydgoszczy |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy „Świadectwo”}}
In January 1920, Bydgoszcz joined the re-created state of Poland. On July 31, 1927, a ceremony unveiled in the park the monument to Henryk Sienkiewicz, first of its kind in the country.
In 1938, a survey in registered 84 species of trees and shrubs including: white birch, common hawthorn, alders, sweet chestnuts, silver berry, common salt trees, walnut trees, magnolias, jasmines, poplars, silver poplars, cherry trees, English oaks, robinias, sumacs, elder berries, willows, lime trees, elms, balsam trees, firs, white firs, sawara cypresses, Norway spruces, blue spruces, mountain pines, pine trees, Swiss pines, English yews, ashleaf maples, ailanthus, sycamores, Norway maples, field maples, silver maples, horse-chestnuts, horse-chestnuts, beeches, European beeches, hornbeams and European hornbeams.
In particular, the park boasted elms and poplars 25 meters tall high and oaks with 300 to 480 cm circumference trunks.
After World War II and the destruction of part of the trees, new plantings have been carried out in the post-war years. In 1952, during the construction of the Pomeranian Philharmonic hall, four 400 cm-perimeter oaks were cut down. In 1958, the southern limit of the park has been extended to include the area of the Philharmonic. In 1960, in the northern part of the park, the statue The Archer, one of Bydgoszcz icons, was installed to a dedicated rectangular square.
In 2014, an overhaul of Jan Kochanowski Park has been performed, to highlight its historical character and link it with the Music District.{{cite web |url=http://bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl/bydgoszcz/56,35590,15801010,Ten_park_stanie_sie_wizytowka_Bydgoszczy__WIZUALIZACJE_.html |title=Ten park stanie się wizytówką Bydgoszczy |last=opr. |first=woj |date=14 April 2014 |website=bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl |publisher=bydgoszcz.wyborcza |access-date=19 March 2017}} This works included:{{cite web |url=http://www.radiopik.pl/2,34409,park-jana-kochanowskiego-w-bydgoszczy-otwarty-zd |title=Park Jana Kochanowskiego w Bydgoszczy otwarty |last=Sanger |first=Ireneusz |date=13 August 2015 |website=radiopik.pl |publisher= Radio PiK SA |access-date=19 March 2017}}
- Removing asphalt alleys from the 1960s;
- New species (Douglas firs, berberis, Sea buckthorn, lychee tree) were introduced as in Konrad Neumann's original project in 1901;
- Set up of flower beds of annual plants;
- A new flower display for The Archer;
- A children's playground equipped with outdoor musical instruments (drum, [https://www.percussionplay.com/tubular-bells/ tubular bells] and xylophone);{{cite web |url=http://bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl/bydgoszcz/56,35590,18589506,nowe-instrumenty-ozdoba-parku-tylko-jak-na-nich-grac-sprawdz.html |title=Wyremontowany park Jana Kochanowskiego już otwarty |last=mc |date=13 August 2015 |website=bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl |publisher=bydgoszcz.wyborcza |access-date=19 March 2017}}
- New lighting and monitoring system installed.
Renovation costed 4.8 million Polish złoty. The newly refurbished park was open on August 13, 2015{{cite web |url=http://bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl/bydgoszcz/1,48722,18551926,wyremontowany-park-jana-kochanowskiego-juz-otwarty-zdjecia.html |title=Nowe instrumenty ozdobą parku. Tylko, jak na nich grać? Sprawdź |last=Marta Leszczyńska |first=Wojciech Bielawa |date=19 August 2015 |website=bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl |publisher=bydgoszcz.wyborcza |access-date=19 March 2017}}
The re-construction of the park happened at the same time as the re-building of the new "son et lumière fountain" before the Pomeranian Philharmonic building, launched on May 23, 2014).{{cite web |url=http://bydgoszcz.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/swiatla-muzyka-i-woda-tanczaca-fontanna-wciaz-przyciaga,2701872,art,t,id,tm.html |title=Światła, muzyka i woda. Tańcząca fontanna wciąż przyciąga widownię |date=27 February 2017 |website=bydgoszcz.naszemiasto.pl |publisher=bydgoszcz.naszemiasto |access-date=12 March 2017}}
Since its creation, the park bore the following names:Maps of Bromberg (1914, 1941) and Bydgoszcz (1921, 1947)
- From 1901 to 1920, and from 1939 to 1945 – Bismark Garten;
- From 1920 to 1939, and since 1945 – Park im. Jana Kochanowskiego.
Park namesake is Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), a famous Polish Renaissance poet.
Monuments
Jan Kochanowski park stands out among other city green areas as welcoming a large number of monuments.
First one, Henryk Sienkiewicz monument by Konstanty Laszczka, was unveiled in 1927, in presence of thousands of spectators, officials and the president of Poland Ignacy Mościcki. The memorial was destroyed by Nazis in September 1939, a new statue has been realized in May 1968, by Stanisław Horno-Popławski.
File:Pomnik Henryka Sienkiewicza 1933.jpg|Original monument by Konstanty Laszczka ca 1933
File:Pomnik Henryka Sienkiewicza Bydg 11-2012a.jpg|Henryk Sienkiewicz by Stanisław Horno-Popławski
Since 1960, The Archer, realized in 1910 by Ferdinand Lepcke, has moved to Jan Kochanowski Park. It is one of the most valuable public sculpture in Bydgoszcz and considered as a real symbol of the city.
File:Bdg Luczniczka fr 3 07-2013.jpg|The Archer
File:Archer 2015-8.jpg|The Archer after park renovation
In 1970, a monument portraying a broken rose, designed by Józef Makowski, was set up in the park. It commemorates the death of fifty pupils from the High School for boys, killed by Nazis on September 5, 1939.{{cite web |url=http://www.visitbydgoszcz.pl/en/explore/visitor-itineraries/2907-green |title=Green Bydgoszcz |year=2017 |website=visitbydgoszcz.pl |publisher=Bydgoskie Centrum Informacji |access-date=19 March 2017}}
File:Monument 1939 park Józef Makowski.jpg|The monument by Józef Makowski
In 2007, the statue by Michał Kubiak of Andrzej Schwalbe (1923–2002), first director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic is present on the square facing the building.
File:Bydgoszcz A Szwalbe.jpg|The monument, with Music Schools building in the backdrop
= Outdoor gallery =
In addition, the park hosts an outdoor collection of sculptures of outstanding personages of classical music.
It features 16 monuments (10 statues and 6 busts) of composers and virtuoso musicians, and placed here progressively since the early 1970s:
- Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), statue in stone by Józef Makowski;
- Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941), Statue in stone by Józef Makowski;
- Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880), statue in stone by Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka from Toruń;
- Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937), statue in stone by Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka;
- Karol Kurpiński (1785–1857), statue in bronze by Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka;
- Stanisław Moniuszko (1819–1872), statue in stone by Witold Marciniak from Toruń;
- Grażyna Bacewicz (1913–1969), statue in stone by Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka;
- Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876–1909), statue in stone by Henryk Rasmus;
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), statue in bronze by Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka;
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), statue in bronze by Witold Marciniak;
- Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), bust in bronze by Witold Marciniak;
- Ludomir Różycki (1884–1953), bust in bronze by Mieczysław Welter from Warsaw;
- Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), bust in bronze by Barbara Zbrożyna from Warsaw;
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), bust in bronze by Witold Marciniak;
- Claude Debussy (1862–1918), bust in bronze by Andrzej Kasten from Warsaw;
- Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933–2010), bust in bronze by Ryszard Wojciechowski.
File:Bdg Filharmonia noc 14 07-2013.jpg|Chopin, Józef Makowski
File:Bdg Filharmonia noc 15 07-2013.jpg|Paderewski, Józef Makowski
File:Bdg Filharmonia noc 25 07-2013.jpg|Szymanowski, Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka
File:Bdg Filharmonia pas 3 07-2013.jpg|Wieniawski, Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka
File:Bdg GrazynaBacewicz 5 10-2013.jpg|Bacewicz, Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka
File:Bdg Filharmonia noc 23 07-2013.jpg|Moniuszko, Witold Marciniak
File:Bdg MieczyslawKarlowicz 2 10-2013.jpg|Karłowicz, Henryk Rasmus
File:Bdg AkadMuz 11 07-2013.jpg|Beethoven, Witold Marciniak
File:Bdg parkKochanowskiego posag 13 10-2013.jpg|Kurpiński, Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka
File:Pomnik Piotr Czajkowski Bydgoszcz.jpg|Tchaikovsky, Ewelina & Henryk Szczech-Siwicka
File:Bdg Galeria postaci muzyków JS Bach.jpg|Johann Sebastian Bach, Witold Marciniak
File:Bdg Galeria postaci muzyków L Różycki.jpg|Różycki, Mieczysław Welter
File:Pomnik Antonin Dworzak Bydgoszcz.jpg|Dvořák, Witold Marciniak
File:Pomnik Claude Debussy Bydgoszcz.jpg|Debussy, Andrzej Kasten
File:Pomnik Igor Strawiński Bydgoszcz.jpg|Stravinsky, Barbara Zbrożyna
File:Popiersie z tyłu filharmonii.jpg| Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Ryszard Wojciechowski
Species
The park displays a mix of native species (oak, hornbeam, beech tree, sycamore) and alien species (red beech and white horse chestnut). Moreover, one can notice red horse-chestnuts and European beeches (purple variety and cone variety){{cite book |last=Mokra |first=Jolanta |year=1996 |title=Zieleń miejska. |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Bydgoska Gospodarka Komunalna |isbn=83-85860-37-1}}
Nearby the Pomeranian Philharmonic building stand red horse-chestnuts and umbrella hornbeam. In the same way, abutting the Main building of Bydgoszcz Music Academy grow silver maples, a large English oaks and rare conifer species (Douglas-fir, eastern white pine and savin juniper).
In the park are registered 21 species, making it the second most rich park in Bydgoszcz, with regards to vegetal variety.
Polish Natural Monuments in Jan Kochanowski Park and its surroundingsRozporządzenie Nr 11/91 Wojewody Bydgoskiego z dn. 01.07.1991Measures from 2011
File:Olsza sercolistna park.jpg|Italian alder
File:English oak.jpg|English Oak
File:Hawthorn kollata.jpg|Hawthorn
Gallery
File:Bdg parkKochanowskiego 5 8-2015.jpg|Children's playground with outdoor musical instruments
File:Bdg Luczniczka noc Mick 2 07-2013.jpg|"The Archer" by night
File:Park Kochanowskiego theatre.jpg|In winter, the Polish Theatre in the background
File:Bach and copernicanum.jpg|Bust of Bach with the Copernicanum building
File:Bust Debussy Paderewskiego.jpg|Bust of Debussy with Ignacego Paderewskiego street in the backdrop
File:Filharmonia Pomorska, 1954-1958 Bydgoszcz, ul. Szwalbego 6 (d. Libelta 16) (27).JPG|View of the Pomeranian Philharmonic building
File:Park view August 2015.jpg|View of the park in Summer
See also
{{Commons category|Park Kochanowskiego|Jan Kochanowski Park in Bydgoszcz}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Pastuszewski |first=Stefan |year=1996 |title=Bydgoska Gospodarka Komunalna. Praca zbiorowa |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy „Świadectwo” |isbn=83-85860-37-1 |language=pl}}
- {{cite book |last=Kaja |first=Renata|year=1995 |title=Bydgoskie pomniki przyrody |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy „Świadectwo” |isbn=83-85860-32-0 |language=pl}}
- {{cite book |last=Kuczma |first=Rajmund|year=1995 |title=Zieleń w dawnej Bydgoszczy |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy „Świadectwo” |language=pl}}
- {{cite book |last=Umiński|first=Janusz|year=1996 |title=Bydgoszcz-Przewodnik |location=Bydgoszcz |publisher=Wydawnictwo Uczelniane Wyższej Pomorskiej Szkoły Turystyki i Hotelarstwa w Bydgoszczy |language=pl}}
{{Bydgoszcz parks and green areas}}