Gliwice Municipal Palm House

The Palm House's story is bound up with Gliwice's municipal park, laid out around 1880 as a 'garden city' feature of some eight hectares. The first glasshouses appeared then, though they were open to the public only partly and occasionally. The turning point came in 1924: a large exhibition of exotic plants was held in the town, and in its wake the Municipal Palm House began operating in earnest. Three Canary Island date palms that arrived in Gliwice that year still grow in the historic pavilion.

In 1925 a 120 m³ pool, described as the first in Silesia, was built for the giant Victoria water lily, along with terrariums and aquariums. In 1935 a glazed pavilion 12 metres high and 504 m² in area became the main exhibition hall, and attendance rose from around 8,000 visitors in 1926 to 30,000 in 1936.

In January 1945 the fighting wrecked the site: broken glass and destroyed heating killed almost all the plants and animals. The Palm House reopened in October 1947 (1948 in some sources), restocked with plants rescued from abandoned Lower Silesian estates and private donations. By 1985 the structures were in such poor condition that it closed for a complete modernisation, reopening in 1998. An aquarium section followed in 2013, and in 2021 the historic pavilion was given new glazed walls.

The modernisation begun in 1985 used the so-called 'envelope' (obudowa) method: new structures were raised around the existing glasshouses before the old ones were dismantled, so that the display plants could stay in place under cover throughout. The complex now covers about 2,000 m², up from 1,400 m² at the 1947 reopening.

The historic pavilion is both the largest and the tallest, rising more than 20 metres (22 metres according to the city) over roughly 900 m² of floor, enough headroom for the palms to keep growing. In 2021 two of its walls were completely rebuilt at a cost of about 1.7 million złoty: the aluminium framing was replaced, old polycarbonate panels gave way to new panels and to clear glass on the Chopin Park side, vents controllable from ground level were fitted, and the wooden platforms and stairs were renewed.

Each pavilion has its own climate: subtropical for useful plants, humid tropical above 18 °C, and dry for the succulents.

The route takes in five pavilions. The historic pavilion holds the oldest specimens: the three Canary Island date palms of 1924, araucarias around fifteen metres tall, brachychitons, and papyrus and pandanus by the water. The tropical pavilion recreates the layered structure of a rainforest, with a waterfall and a pool of piranhas, peacock cichlids and African catfish.

The useful-plants pavilion shows species people have long exploited, to a soundtrack of exotic birdsong. The succulent house gathers some 2,000 cacti, from eight-metre cereus to tiny lithops. The aquarium pavilion, opened in 2013, recreates four freshwater habitats: the Amazon (a 60,000-litre tank), Lake Tanganyika, Polish rivers and the rivers of South-East Asia.

The Palm House stands on Fredry Street in Chopin Park, a historic green space of about five hectares, which also holds a monument to Frédéric Chopin and a memorial to the victims of wars and totalitarianism.

The circuit leads through the five pavilions in sharply contrasting settings, from desert to rainforest. An educational trail on exotic plants — spices, succulents, bamboos and palms — accompanies the visit, with hands-on areas for children. The glasshouses offer a warm refuge during the Silesian winter, and the walk continues naturally into the park.