In the decaying for years modernist Okocim Pavilion located in Krakow's Wolski Forest, life is stirring anew. This time the hosts are a badger, a tawny owl and a frog, all under the "flag" of the Municipal Greenery Board in Cracow. Thanks to the initiative of local activists seeking to restore the Pavilion to its former glory and its revitalization, the Lea Glade has regained its former grandeur.
The "Symbiosis" Environmental Education Center opens mainly to the youngest nature lovers. The permanent exhibition consists of the Day Room, whose guide is a beech tree, and the Night Room, where we will learn that the forest never sleeps.... In each of them forest secrets will be discovered, you will even be able to visit a badger in its burrow.
The center also includes a ceramics studio, after all, nature has always inspired artists. In the culinary studio we will get to know the forest from the kitchen - the countertop will be filled with berries, strawberries, mushrooms and herbs. In the Fields and Meadows Workshop Room you will be able to take part in ecologicaland natural science workshops.
and they used to go there to dance
The history of the Pavilion goes back as far as 84 years, when in 1936 it stood in the Wolski Forest in the Juliusz Lea Glade. The author of the project was Jan Oglódek, an associate of Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, an architect of great importance to Krakow. In the 1950s-60sthe Okocim Pavilion was occupied by a restaurant and café, which was very popular. Later on, as Cracovians still remember, people used to come to the Pavilion for ice cream, and in the evenings for dancing. In the 1990s, the Pavilion was closed and the Lea Glade was abandoned.
Okocim Pavilion before revitalization
© courtesy of ZZM in Krakow
Today, the modernist building has been enriched with many modern, ecological solutions - covered with an extensive green roof that provides water filtration, photovoltaic panels have been installed, heat pumps and a special tank where rainwater (used for flushing toilets) is collected. There is also a system for charging electric cars nearby. According to ZZM, the building is also properly adapted to the needs of people with disabilities and the blind and visually impaired.
The opening of the "Symbiosis" Environmental Education Center is coming up on February 29 this year!
