As recently as February 2026, information coming from Bolesławiec City Hall sounded very optimistic. A modern, two-level footbridge was supposed to be built over the municipal pond. The investment was presented as a new leisure area and one of the attractions in the centre of Bolesławiec. The completion date was specified: 30 June 2026. The cost of the construction works alone was expected to be PLN 848,700.
It is 16 August. There is no footbridge.
Instead of a footbridge—fences and weeds
Photographs taken on Sunday show what the area around the pond currently looks like. Part of the site is still enclosed by metal panels and green mesh. Tall weeds are growing inside. Old, dirty and partly damaged banners hang beside the path.
One of them still carries information about the “renovation of the Municipal Pond” and shows a visualisation with the large caption: “A new footbridge is being built here”.
The problem is that the new footbridge is nowhere to be seen.
Elements of the former structure remain in the water, however. It is difficult to regard the whole scene as matching the earlier announcements of creating a “new landmark of Bolesławiec.”
Tourists will arrive in a few days
The timing is particularly unfortunate. The 32nd Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival begins on 19 August. Over five days, thousands of residents and tourists will visit the city centre.
The municipal pond is just a two-minute walk from the Market Square, by the promenade and the defensive walls. These are precisely the kinds of places visited by people who go beyond the immediate fairgrounds during the city’s biggest event.
Instead of the announced viewing point, they may see a fenced-off and neglected investment site, weeds, old mesh and dirty boards.
The footbridge has been announced since 2023
The history of this investment is much longer. In 2023, the popular “Łajba,” which stood over the pond, was demolished. Kazimierz Łomotowski, head of the Municipal Housing Management Facility, said at the time that a viewing point would be built in its place. The first works were announced for the turn of November and December 2023.
Several months later, Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman explained during a City Council session that the demolition of Łajba followed a decision by the heritage conservator. The city then decided to build a new viewing point so as not to leave only the pillars of the previous structure.
Almost three years have passed since the first announcements.
The mayor’s responsibility
In this matter, it is difficult to place responsibility solely on the contractor or municipal officials. The investor is the Municipality of Bolesławiec, and the project is being carried out by the local government led by Mayor Piotr Roman.
It was the mayor who previously publicly explained why Łajba was demolished and why a new structure was to be built in its place.
Therefore, nearly three years after the first announcements and a month and a half after the investment’s completion deadline, the question should primarily be addressed to the city authorities: why is the footbridge still missing, and when will it actually be made available to residents?
For now, instead of Bolesławiec’s new landmark, there is a view that the city authorities are unlikely to want to include in promotional materials for the Ceramic Festival.