page_title: Park on Wolności Hill, Bydgoszcz
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Park on Wolności Hill, Bydgoszcz / History
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Park na Wzgórzu Wolności w Bydgoszczy
context_page_description: The Park on Wolności Hill is a city green area covering almost 10 ha, located on the heights of Bydgoszcz, Poland.
context_section_description: The park was founded in 1911–1913, by incorporating the existing natural forest standing on the southern hilly terrain of Bromberg, geologically designated as urstromtal. The park was designed as a mountain forest area, recalling the Tatra mountains. At its inception, it covered 7 hectares (17 acres).
  On May 25, 1913, a Bismarck tower was unveiled in the park, based on a design by Paul Walther, an architect from Berlin. This Bismarck Turm gave its name to the elevation as Bismarck Hill (German: Bismarckhöhe). The massive squat stone building was 25 metres (82 ft) high; it housed, among others, a memorial room to Otto von Bismarck who died in 1898, and its highest observation deck offered a remarkable panorama over the entire city.
  At the recreation of Polish state, the edifice, stripped from its commemorative plaques, was renamed Freedom Tower (Polish: wieża Wolności), giving the name to the site as Park on Wolności Hill. A controversial project of converting the tower into a chapel crowned by a grand cross was drawn: the polemic raised by the scheme added to its cost led to the dismissal of the plan. On April 12, 1928, Bydgoszcz city council passed a contentious resolution on the liquidation of the tower. A month later (May 16), the ex-Bismarck tower was blown up using 30 tons of TNT. Nowadays, the only elements left of this building are the stairs from Toruńska street (between 86 and 88) and the cemented square platform in the Cemetery of Bydgoszcz Heroes.
  The years following, the park was redesigned by planting pines and silver birches. In 1938, an inventory listed the following species growing in the park:
  Bog pines;
  Norway spruces;
  Silver birches;
  Siberian dwarf pines;
  Savin junipers.
  During the occupation, Nazis authorities restored the name Bismarckhöhe, while the trail and the park, called Höhenweg, extended farther east, reaching present day's Aleja Jana Pawła II.
  After World War II, the Cemetery of Bydgoszcz Heroes was set up in the middle of the park to gather all the victims of executions from the city and its surroundings. 
  From 1974 to 1980, on the eastern side of the park, the provincial hospital Jan Biziel has been erected. Today, the path does not go further east, wandering between too many private properties.
  A revitalization project was prepared in 2016 and carried out between 2017 and 2019, associated to an EU funding. Works included, among others:
  planting meadows, trees, shrubs, herbs and flowers (681 species in total);
  installing small architecture elements (e.g. benches, information boards, nest boxes for birds and bats);
  replacing the lighting system;
  building new paths for pedestrian and bicycles.
  The project also comprised the construction of new stairs leading down to Kujawska street.
  Bydgoszcz council officially bestowed to the park the name Park Wolności thanks to a resolution passed on June 26, 2019.
caption: Bench with a view on the old town
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