The oldest part, despite many transformations, is a reminder of one of the early sentimental landscape parks in Poland on which eminent architects had worked. The incorporation of the greenery complex into the topography of the Warsaw Escarpment is the decisive factor of its high natural and landscape values.

History

In the Mokotów estate, duchess Izabela Lubomirska nee Czartoryska established a suburban residence called “Mon coteau”. In the years 1772-74, by the little palace located on the edge of the Vistula Escarpment, a regular garden was created according to a design by Efraim Schroeger, on the plot adjoining from the west the route to Lublin (currently Puławska Street). It was a utility garden with symmetrical layout, divided into fruit, vegetable, and flower part. Along its southern border, there was a manor farm part with cottages covered with reed, and from the north - an orangery. After the land was purchased in 1776, the narrower part of the plot located at the foot of the escarpment reached the Royal Route leading to Wilanów (currently Belwererska Street). In that area, Szymon Bogumił Zug who had worked for the founder since approx. 1773, designed a landscape park with three irregular, artificial ponds and a network of channels connected through sailing routes with the water system of the nearby Royal Łazienki Park of king Stanisław August Poniatowski, with whom duchess Lubomirska remained in a romantic relationship. Until 1784, Zug transformed the utility garden, abandoning the concept of its symmetry. He partially transformed the existing buildings, among other things the orangery, and enriched the façade by adding a bent section with canephorae and a gardener’s house. Along the western wall, he built two gate houses: the northern Flemish Gloriette by the entryway to the little palace and the Tower with Dovecote from the south, by the road to the manor farm. By the south-western corner of the palace, he added the Burgrave House. The palace’s porte-cochère could be accessed from Gloriette by a road with 4 rows of trees planted along it, which divided the vegetable and the fruit section of the garden. The upper part of the garden was used as utility facilities, and the lower garden, located at the foot of the escarpment, became the centre of the complex. It was called “Wild Promenade” and mimicked natural landscape. It was inspired by the most magnificent French landscape complexes, especially Ermenonville. It could be accessed by an entryway from the route to Wilanów by a brick bridge over the channel leading to the Royal Łazienki Park. Near the eastern border, there were the so-called Little Manor Farm with Castle - a garden ruin - and primitivised Little Barn and Little Basement. From the south, there was the so-called “Void”, and from the south - ponds with islands. In this part, wooden old-looking cottages were located: Little Apiary, Hermitage, Fish House which - along with the Little Manor Farm - comprised the garden village. On one of the islands, on a hill, there was a monument of Jean-Jacques Rousseau - probably the first in Poland. Duchess Lubomirska was an admirer of the writer, and his ideas were reflected in the programme of her park. Above the diagonal channel cutting the lower garden into half, as far as the palace, there were dense trees with a network of paths and sight-seeing clearings. Numerous pavilions were placed in the park, among other things Chinese Gazebo, Turkish Tent, Indian Hut, Drawing Room on Columns, Corinthian Gloriette, as well as bird pavilions, caves, bridges, fountains, water sources, and cascades which were supposed to create a picturesque impression. After the duchess left the country in 1785, the park was maintained in good condition, and in 1799 it became property of her daughter Aleksandra with her husband, Stanisław Kostka Potocki. The neglected property was taken over in 1820 by Anna Dunin-Wąsowicz nee Potocka. She arranged the park in the Romantic spirit. She commissioned the conversion of some buildings in neo-Gothic style to Henryk Marconi. In 1845, the biggest part of the divided estates of Anna Dunin-Wąsowicz was purchased by Franciszek Szuster, who established a popular summer resort there. He commissioned to Karol Barthel drying and re-composing the park, as well as building summer houses along present Puławska and Dworkowa Streets. In the years 1852-1862, Adam Idźkowski, who converted the palace, adapted garden pavilions for the needs of summer visitors. Approx. in 1880, the lower garden became a place of entertainment with “Promenada” restaurant situated near its eastern border. In 1899, at the foot of the escarpment in the southern part of the park, the Szuster family ordered the construction of the Mausoleum where, in 1901, Franciszek Szuster was buried. After his death, the garden was neglected. The Promenada Park was leased to Marian Jung, who in 1911 arranged a place for entertainment there with a theatre, carousel, boat rental on the pond, and in 1925, the park was leased for the purposes of running a vegetable and flower garden. In 1938, the park, already surrounded by urban buildings, was re-composed according to a design by Zygmunt Hellwig and Leon Danielewicz. During World War II nearly all trees in the park were felled. Only around the little palace, specimens of old-growth trees have survived. The surviving park pavilions were dismantled in the 1950s. During the reconstruction after war devastation, the area of the Szuster park was connected with the adjacent square around the Morskie Oko pond, the former Czapski clay brickyard. In 1958, Elżbieta Jankowska commenced works on the design of a municipal park in this area, which in 1964 was planted with poplars. The team of the designer continued the works on the park in the years 1976-1979. In 1994, between the gate pavilions by Puławska Street, a monument of Jan Matejko by Marian Konieczny was unveiled.

Description

The park is located between Puławska and Belwederska Streets. Its southern border is delimited by Morskie Oko Street and Promenada Street, and its northern border - by Spacerowa Street. It is comprised of two parts - the historical part including the Szuster park and the Promenada park, and the post-war part with the Morskie Oko park. The parts are connected with a narrow strip of land with a walking path running along the Warsaw Escarpment between buildings at Dworkowa and Smetany Streets, and the buildings at Grottgera, Zajączkowskiej, and Pogodna Streets. It is a municipal, generally accessible park without fencing. It was embedded in the landscape of the Warsaw Escarpment. From the west, it is situated on a flat land which, from the edge of the escarpment, descends as far as to the eastern borders of the park. The surviving gate pavilions are located within the sidewalk of Puławska Street. Further to the east, as far as the palace, there stretches the upper part of the park whose post-war composition is reminiscent of its former geometric layout. The main path is planted with double rows of lime trees. It leads to the flower bed on the axis of the palace. Around the building, there are surviving old-growth trees with magnificent oak specimens - monuments of nature. The post-war composition of the lower part of the park is reminiscent of its original landscape layout. It can be accessed by paths located to the north and south from the palace, which cross below with a dense network of free-running paths, circumscribing three irregularly shaped ponds. The descending terrain is filled with post-war plantings, mainly clustered along paths and borders of the park. In the central strip located in front of the palace terrace, there are open spaces of lawns with small clusters of trees and shrubs. At the feet of the escarpment, in the southern part, there is surviving Mausoleum of the Szuster family. The second part of the park should be distinguished due to 3 places of national remembrance in the area of Dworkowa Street, dedicated to the victims of the Warsaw Uprising. The layout of paths and stair flights embedded in the escarpment topography leads to the area at the foot of the escarpment, to the Morskie Oko pond with steep banks. The pond occupies a central place in the post-war park. The path circumscribing it reaches the lower areas with a small pond at the eastern border of the park. Approx. 90 species of trees, mostly deciduous, can be found in the park complex. Ashes, limes, sycamores, and maples are the most numerous, but more rare species can also be found here, e.g. coffeetree or catalpa.

The park is not fenced and it is generally accessible.

compiled by Małgorzata Laskowska-Adamowicz, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warszawa, 27-11-2015.

Bibliography

• Ewidencja parku Promenada przy pałacu Szustrów w Warszawie oprac. Hanna Spychaj, Joanna Zawadzka-Roman, Warszawa 1984, Archiwum Narodowego Instytutu Dziedzictwa
• Ciołek G., Ogrody Polskie, przemiany treści i formy, [b.m.w.] 1954
• Jaroszewski T. S., Księga Pałaców Warszawy, 1985, s. 81
• Leśniakowska M., Architektura w Warszawie, Warszawa 1998, s. 213
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• http://zielona.um.warszawa.pl/tereny-zielone/parki/park-morskie-oko - dostęp 16-10-2015 r.