The demolished outdoor pools on Spacerowa Street dated back to the communist era. They were opened to the public on July 22, 1974. They were completely demolished and replaced with a modern water and recreation park, which opened its doors to visitors in 2025.
Not the slightest trace remains of the pools from 1974. We have them preserved in photographs taken just before their demolition, as well as in our memories and hearts. The people of Bolesławiec spent their childhoods and youth there, remembering swimming in the pools, playing volleyball and jumping from the diving boards. The former outdoor pools had three swimming pools of varying depths, as well as a small beach, a children's play area, tennis courts, and volleyball and basketball courts. There was a restaurant next to the pools.
In 2021, President Piotr Roman informed residents at a city council session about revolutionary changes that were to take place at the outdoor pools. The new concept assumed that the water park, costing nearly 58 million zlotys, would not include deep swimming pools. The option of a modern amusement park with water attractions was chosen.
“My experience is that a typical swimming pool simply does not pay off,” explained Piotr Roman in 2021.
Demolition began in 2023, and partial technical inspections of the new facility took place in November 2024. Ultimately, the new water park opened in June 2025.
The history of the outdoor pools by the Bóbr dates back to 1925
The outdoor pools were built on the left bank of the river, opposite the now-defunct “Szwajcarka” restaurant, which was an attraction located in the immediate vicinity of the swimming complex on the Bóbr.
Construction of the pools began on August 12, 1925, and they opened on June 6, 1926. In addition to adult workers, 930 young people also worked on the construction, helping to clear the area in the old riverbed. The pools opened to residents on May 16 and closed on September 15.
Modern for their time, the pools formed part of a sports and recreation complex covering 10 hectares. The area also included a stadium with a playing field, a running track with spectator stands, a beach, and green spaces for recreation and relaxation.
In the northern part of the complex, to the left of the entrance, stood the administrative building. It housed ticket offices, a hall with 16 changing rooms, locker rooms, two rooms for swimming associations, each measuring 25 square meters, a lifeguard's room, and a bicycle storage area. The interior color scheme was designed by Artur Henning, an artist and lecturer at the ceramic school in Bolesławiec.
Attached to the administrative building were group changing-room halls, each 17 meters long, separate for women and men. Each hall contained benches and clothes lockers, initially 40, with the possibility of increasing the number to 78, as well as showers and toilets. Water for them came from a well and was pumped electrically. The changing-room hall also contained a basin for rinsing feet.
The bathing area could accommodate approximately 1,300 people and consisted of three pools. The main pool measured 100 × 25 meters. Parallel to it was a pool for non-swimmers, divided by a net into an adults' section measuring 60 × 25 meters and a shallower children's section measuring 40 × 25 meters.
The pools were supplied with water from the Bóbr River. Water was drawn through a 50-centimeter-diameter pipeline located upstream of the weir.
Interestingly, the water depth in the pools depended on the level to which the water was raised at the weir. At the normal water level at the weir, the water depth in the swimming pool ranged from 1.62 to 2.75 meters, in the adults' pool it was 90 centimeters, and in the children's pool it was 25 centimeters. The total volume of the basins was then 6,700 cubic meters.
When the water level was raised, the water level in each pool increased by half a meter, and the total volume rose to 9,200 cubic meters.
Most interestingly, the water in the pools was changed every week, overnight from Saturday to Sunday. The pools were also cleaned at that time. The entire process of changing the water and cleaning took five hours.
The closed Bolesławiec pools from the communist era were commemorated in her book “Joachim” by Grażyna Hanaf. She set part of the story about Joachim at the now-defunct pools. Joachim came to Bolesławiec, spent his holidays with friends on Rajska Street, and the water and sports center was one of the city's summer attractions.