Nature Monuments

Świnoujście is full of trees and shrubs that have been registered as nature monuments. There is also a wide variety of rare ornamental and exotic plants of impressive sizes. Peter Joseph Lenne, a Royal Gardens architect, who at the outset of the 19^th Century, designed the Spa Park, also exerted his influence on the other green areas in the city. Under his impact,  wealthy residents and owners of summer houses imported expensive and original seedlings and planted these in their gardens. Even nowadays, these can be admired while walking around Świnoujście. Moreover, a large collection of fascinating and extremely rare plant species can be found in the Spa Part. So important are these plants to the town, that some of them were given names by the residents. For instance, the junction of Paderewskiego and Chopina streets is decorated with two yew trees named  “The Buccaneers”, while the yew trees named “The Sailors” grow in front of the Captain’s Office (the Ladislas IV Quay). These are of 60 and 57 metres in circumference. What is more, the maritime qualities of the city are highlighted by the oaks that are named the “Two Captains”, “The Lighthouse Keepers” and “The Skipper”, as well as the lime named :The Mariners’ Wives”.

Not all of Świnoujście's beautiful trees and shrubs have received the status of nature monuments, although they are deserving. Stanisława Moniuszki Street, shadowed with forty-three maple-leaf plane trees, and surrounded by purple-type maple trees and sycamores, beguiles you into taking a walk down it on a sunny day, when the sun rays peep through the corollas of the majestic trees. At Siemiradzkiego Street, in the blossoming season, you can admire a huge magnolia named “Magdalena” in honour of Magdalena Samozwaniec, a writer and painter, who used to visit Świnoujście. What is more, impressive hollies grow in different spots of the city, including the tallest one at  Władysława Orkana Street, in the vicinity of two Italian poplars. Named in honour of Professor Władysław Filipowiak, a prominent West-Pomeranian historian, it is 18 cm in circumference, and it is 6.5 m high.

On continuing our tour through Świnoujście, we can find “The Foreigner”. This is one of the maple-leaf plain trees decorating Boh. Września Street. Moreover, “The Lighthouse Keeper” and “The Lighthouse Lady,” with a circumference of 121 and 105 cm, respectively, and with a height of 13 m, grow between the Gerhard Fort and the lighthouse. Stop someone on the street, and they will tell you of the legend about a lighthouse keeper and his wife, connected with those extraordinary trees. Apart from “The Mariners” yew trees, Barlickiego Street on the Isle of Wolin is planted with a number of impressive horse chestnuts. The most popular tree of all is however, “The Lighthouse Keepers’ Oak”, 23-metres high and having 205 metres in circumference. This can be found growing in the school area at Sosnowa Street.

In the Przytór District, you may encounter another nature monument – a pedunculate oak growing next to the church, while a 600-metre-long oak alley grows along the major road in the Isle of  Karsibór. Three historic stands of trees can also be found in the area of a former cemetery.

Precious natural stands can be seen near the grey sand dune, and near the white (primary) sand dune, along the coastline in the Przytorski Peninsula. In the left-hand part of the Peninsula, in the section separating the promenade from the seaside, you can see plantations of exotic shrubs (such as the Caspian willow, the silver berry, the Siberian peashrub and the black locust) and the Sea-buckthorn, a deciduous shrub characteristic of these areas, whose yellow and orange fruit is used in food production, due to its specific taste and high vitamin C content.

            In concluding our visit with the flora of Świnoujście, we invite you to follow the nature monuments trail, along which, some plant species which are marked with information plates.