It is part of a great cultural, economic and spatial legacy that the Fränkel-Pinkus family has left to the town. For several years, it has been subject to restoration aimed at restoring its original character and preserving the memory of the founders.

History

The park was founded on the initiative and with the funds of the Association for the Beautification of the Town of Prudnik (then Neustadt) and the Fränkel family in 1884-1886. Inspector Fox designed the complex in a landscape style, covered with a dense network of alleys with designated squares. Plantings varied in terms of density and height.

In subsequent years, the squares set up were fitted with landscape architecture and monuments. The main entrance to the park, at the corner of Parkowa Street and Mickiewicza Street, led next to the central fountain. Next to it was a stone bench (now nonexistent) sponsored by Hermann Fränkel in 1903 and an obelisk devoted to the memory of the victims of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871. The monument was unveiled on 21 October 1888. On a tall pedestal, there was a quadrangular obelisk with a sculpture of the Prussian eagle. The monument underwent alterations after World War II; the alterations involved removing the plaques and motifs related to its Prussian origin, and covering the plinth with a lowered obelisk with inscriptions commemorating the "700 years of Prudnik" and "1000 years of the Polish State" in 1960.

To the west of it, in the Fränkel's square, an openwork music pavilion was built in 1887, and a bronze sculptural Diana group on a plinth in the form of a boulder was installed in 1911. The sculpture financed from the Albert Fränkel's fund was lost in 1945.

In recent years, the war memorial and music pavilion underwent conservation and renovations, and the Diana group was reconstructed.

Description

The park is located in the centre of Prudnik, south-east of the Old Town, between Parkowa, Mickiewicza, Staszica and Dąbrowskiego Streets. It covers an area of about 11.5 ha. In the preserved layout, among the old trees there are old infrastructure and finishing elements (for example, character of the surface in some of the alleys, fence around the flowerbeds with a fountain and monument), park architecture (concert gazebo, small timber-frame building in the southern part of the park), and a fountain (currently not in working order). The reconstruction of the sculpture of Diana stands on the original pedestal, and the war memorial, in a simplified form, differs from the original one in terms of the content conveyed. The former Prussian monument can be seen only in iconography from the early 20th century, just like a marble bench near it.

The park is open to the public.

compiled by Joanna Szot, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 01-09-2014.

Bibliography

• Baron A., Max Pinkus. 1857-1934. Śląski przemysłowiec i mecenas kultury, Opole 2008.
• Chrząszcz J., Geschichte der Stadt Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Neustadt 1912.
• Kulczyk P., Rzepiela U., Prudnik na dawnej pocztówce, Opole 2002.
• Nicieja S.S., Kulczyk P., Prudnik dawniej i dziś. 1896-2006, Opole 2006.
• Rathmann R., Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Berlin 1929.
• Rzepiela U., Szymańska-Seyler S., Prudnik lat minionych. 1895-1935, Opole 2006.