University of Warsaw Library Roof Garden

What makes it special

The garden has two levels. The lower one is far larger, with ponds, a fountain and a water channel running down the library's glass roof. The smaller upper garden sits on the roof itself.

Look for Ryszard Stryjecki's granite sculptures among the beds. The landscape architect Irena Bajerska grouped the planting by colour: the gold garden has yellow and orange flowering shrubs such as forsythia, and the silver garden has silver-leaved willows.

Over the skylight stands a gazebo wrapped in five-leaf Virginia creeper, a hardy Lithuanian variety that turns purple in autumn. The planting grows in a soil layer only 20 to 40 centimetres deep, laid over the library roof.

Visiting

The lower garden is where you start. Its paths form a network that feels like a maze but is hard to get lost in.

Stairs on either side of the entrance ramp climb to the roof. Footbridges cross the upper garden, and one leads to a viewpoint on the corner of the building, looking over the National Stadium, the Świętokrzyski Bridge and the river.

Finish in the blue garden, reached by a footbridge over the building's glass roof, then take the stairs back down.

Tips

Only assistance dogs are allowed in the garden. Children under 16 in a group need an adult with them.

On the roof, keep off the railings and do not swing the footbridges. Come down if a thunderstorm or strong wind blows up, because nobody may stay in the upper garden then. Keep to the cleared paths in winter.