Community Highlights Europe A Day Trip to Otwock

A Day Trip to Otwock

On the invitation of the IOM, my wife and I were privileged to pay another visit to Warsaw on the way to Otwock ((read: ['otwotsk]), a nice city to the southeast of the Polish capital. The trip took place owing to the IOM project “Exploring Mazovia” aimed at educating the Ukrainian war refugees staying at the Ukrainian Refugees Home in Warsaw. We became the only travellers from Siedlce. Thus, a group of 22 other Ukrainian refugees residing in Warsaw, my wife and I managed to see some samples of the great wooden architecture as well as some other historical buildings, monuments and memorials of Otwock.

Mrs.Lidia, our IOM Polis teacher, became our city guide. She is very knowledgeable about Otwock after having stayed in this city and having written an article about it, Otwock and its surroundings are a real treasure trove of monuments, each of them having its own unique character. This time we missed the monumental palace in Otwock Wielki - the Bieliński Palace in the village of Otwock Wielki (six miles to the south of Otwock). The palace is located on an island on Lake Rokola and needs an entire day for a visit. Thus, Otwock is a place where you want to come back to discover more stories hidden among pine trees and wooden verandas. The area possesses a healing microclimate.

Otwock used to be a town of aristocrats, who had their villas there. In 1887, a railway line connected the town with Warsaw, and its development began. Michał Andrijów was the designer of lots of wooden houses in the town. A lot of spas, sanatoriums and parks were built.

As you arrive to the railway station, you can really literally hear and enjoy the silence and feel the fresh air until you reach the busy Church Street, where the silence and the fresh air seem to disappear.

There were five synagogues in Otwock before WWII. There was harmony between the Poles and the Jews: the population was 50% x 50%. Unfortunately, all of the synagogues were destroyed during the war. Osip Perekhodnyi, a well-to-do Jewish merchant, was one of the most famous Jews in the city.

We walked along Church Street, Tadeusz Kosciusko Street, Home Army Street, Kopernik Street and Chopin Street. As our guide told us, maybe five dozens of what they called "Świdermajer" villas have survived all the turbulent years. Their architects looked up to the beautiful, decorated residencies in the Swiss Alps, as well as the cottages of Tsarist Russia. And thus, towards the end of the 19th century, the pine woods by the Świder river began to see ornate houses being built, whose distinct style was once mentioned as "Świdermajer” by poet Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński ”, alluding the architectural style to the 19th-century Biedermeier period.

"Willa Julia"— a neo-Gothic, brick, two-story building with a lofty tower— and a single-story, lightweight wooden building with an attic, fronting Kościelna Street. "Willa Julia" is one of the most original buildings in Otwock Station District. It was the first historical wodden building we saw during our tour. Although the information board insists that Villa Yulia was entered into the register of monuments and is under conservation protection. At the same time there is a warning “No entry! Falling structure!” We read in the information board that in 1905, Aleksander Kowalski became the owner of the Villa, establishing an inhalation center there, and a pharmacy in the wooden house. A much wider range of goods was available there: gasoline for balloons and pounds, paints, starches, shoe polish, Van Houten cocoa, broths, Maggi, floor wax, powders, toilet soap, mothballs, olive oil of Nice, household vermin exterminating powder, mineral water, St. Raphael and all kinds of pharmaceutical, chemical, and technical materials, surgical dressings, and instruments. Kowalski built a large wooden building in the garden, along with the motor mineral water pump room, where one could drink all kinds of soda water, including heated or with added milk or whey upon request.
In the early 1920s, the villa passed into the hands of doctor Gotlib Kremer and changed its purpose. The first floor housed the Post and Telegraph Office, while the ground floor was occupied by private tenants and the owner. He was a psychiatrist, director of the "Zofiówka" Psychiatric Facility for Jews, and also ran a private practice. He allowed several wooden buildings to be built in the corner of his plot for shops – today, the "Stylowa" Restaurant stands there. Just before the war, Dr. Kremer left the country permanently.

The Post and Telegraph Office operated in "Villa Julia" until 1935, when the post office was moved to the former "Villa Cacko." Telephone and telegram services operated in "Villa Julia" until the end of the war. After the war, until the late 1980s, the villa was inhabited by municipal tenants allocated by the Municipal National Council. "Willa Julia" has been entered into the register of monuments and is under conservation protection.

We reached the newly renovated (2015-2020) building of the former Abram Gurewicz Sanatorium, the largest wooden building in all of Poland, and maybe in all of Europe. It is the most precious representative of local architecture, with its seven wings attached to each other, open terraces for sun bathing, and the charming verandas with glass windows. It is a treasure of Otwock which tells the centennial story of the trendy summer destination. Wealthy patients would come here before the war, in search of rest, a healthy climate, and entertainment. Bolesław Prus was thrilled by it, and Julian Tuwim and Janusz Korczak were both regular visitors.

The villa was surrounded with a pine-scented park, and a cherished garden with an orangery, exotic plants, and fountains. There was a reading room, a play room, a dining room and a concert hall with a piano. Now the villa houses a restaurant named “New Gurewicz” and hotel rooms.

Willa Szeliga was another sample of "Świdermajer" style. This is the name of the property at 16 and 18 Kościelna Streets (Church Street), which was laid out before 1893. Building No. 16 was the first to be erected, followed by building No. 18. The buildings in this streets used to serve different purposes: a boarding house, rentals (both residential and commercial), a storehouse for colonial goods, a haberdashery shop, and medical offices. The "Spójnia" Intelligentsia Club and the "Emero" Radio Enthusiasts' Society were located here. In 1947, the property at 16 and 18 Kościelna Streets was purchased by the Kwiatkowski family. Currently, it is privately owned.

Walking along Church Street, we reached the Church of St. Vincent de Paul, a new church building erected in 1991.

On the way to the main entrance, we saw a memorial stone dedicated to Our Lady of Swojczów. The granite obelisk was erected the Volhynians on November 11th, 1995 as a lasting symbol of their connection with Otwock, erected a granite obelisk at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul. The inscription on it reads: "Our Lady of Swojczów of Volhynia, present in this temple as the patron saint of Otwock, causes our hearts to gather here. Volhynians." The obelisk was unveiled on September 8, 1998, by a soldier from the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division of the Home Army, Professor Władysław Filar.

Our Lady of Swojczów and Otwock became the patron saint of the residents of Otwock in the 4th of June, 1989.

In the side chapel of the parish church stands a painting of Mary with the Child Jesus – known as Our Lady of Swojczów, also venerated as the patron saint of Otwock. This painting is a replica of the image of Our Lady of the Snows from the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Major.
The painting was created in the 17th century – the painting of Our Lady of Swojczów by an unknown artist. The cult of the Patroness of Otwock is evidenced not only by the huge image at the entrance, but also by numerous votive offerings placed at the image inside the church.

You can see a memorial plaque on the left wall of the church lobby. It is dedicated to the parish priest who is revered here. The inscription reads, Priest Canonic Ludwik Wolski, the long-time parish priest of Otwock for 26 years, the creator of the parish church, lived for 72 years, devoted 48 years to his priesthood, fell asleep in the Lord in 1953. R.I.P.
According to our city guide, the priest was not only the parish priest. He was alco secretly active with the Home Army during WWII and helped dozens of Jews escape the imminent death.

Walking along Home Army Street, we saw an exquisite stone fountain and a pilots memorial dedicated to two Polish pilots who perished on November 11, 1998 when performing a weather reconnaissance flight on borad the "Iskra" plane before the air show over the capital on Independence Day, the 80th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence. The memorial is at the intsrcection of Home Army Street and Krucz Street. The inscription at the foot of the memorial bears the names of the fallen officers and reads,

We saw the coat-of-arms of the city in one of the roundabouts on the way to the Municipal Theater. The coat-of-arms was officially adopted in 1927. It represents a shield with the Polish eagle in the left part and a symbol of medicine in the right part.

We also walked along Geisler Street. In the place where the housing estate now stands, until the late 1990s, the building of the first lowland tuberculosis sanatorium in the Kingdom of Poland stood. Its founder, owner, and chief physician was Józef Marian Geisler, the founder of the Otwock Health Resort. In 1893, with financial support from the renowned Warsaw physician Adam Chełmoński, Dr. Józef Geisler built a large two-story building in the forest, between present-day Kościuszko Street, Chopin Street, and Geisler Street, intended as a treatment facility for lung diseases, primarily tuberculosis. In mid-1898, the sanatorium was expanded.

Dr. Józef Marian Geisler was also a great community activist. He was a member of the Board of the Society of Friends of Otwock, a devoted advocate of Otwock as a so-called climatic station, and contributed to granting Otwock the status of the first disinfection station.

Dr. Geisler died in Otwock on May 1, 1924. He was buried in the cemetery in Karczew.
The sanatorium operated until the outbreak of World War I. With the death of Dr. Józef Marian Geisler, it ceased to exist.
Recognizing Dr. Józef Marian Geisler's contributions to Otwock, on August 6, 1924, the City Council voted to change the name of Graniczna Street to J. M. Geisler Street.
In the former sanatorium building, the owners, Waks and Frydland, opened a guesthouse called Dyeta, later renamed Patria, run by Regina Rozenblat. During the war, it housed a residential building, a café, and a restaurant.

We reached Stefan Jaracz Municipal Theater. You can see a bronze memorial plaque dedicated to Stefan Jaracz, a famous Polish actor and director. The inscription reads,

I liked his quote which he used in his talk with people having university education and degrees. He said,
"It's easy for you intellectuals. Your fathers and often grandfathers worked for you. And they have arranged something in your brains that makes your professional or creative work easier. I am the first generation and I had to acquire all the knowledge, God forbid, about the world, about people, about culture. Do you think it's easy? It has to be done tooth and claw. Many of my colleagues and acquaintances who wanted to become real intellectuals did not make it and either got drunk to death or went down altogether. So you don't know your happiness, it's easy for you, because others worked for you." – Stefan Jaracz

The building of the current town hall was originally the villa of Stanisław Sierakowski, built in 1880, which was purchased in 1920 by the city authorities for the purpose of its headquarters. In 1925, engineer Adam Paprocki prepared a project for the transformation of the villa into a town hall, modified before 1928 by the city architect Eugenia Jabłońska. Probably the lack of financial resources caused that the significant expansion of the villa proposed by A. Paprocki was abandoned. Only the two-storey front bay and a fragment of the connector of the former villa were adapted for the town hall, changing its internal layout and decorating the town council meeting room with rich stucco decorations. The building is listed in the register of monuments. The second building for the municipality was built in 1921 according to the design of J. Mokrzycki for the purpose of flats for the employees of the office, after 1935 it housed the Climate Department.

This featured blog entry was written by Vic_IV from the blog Our Stay in Poland.
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