If you ask someone from Warsaw where Gnojna Góra is, probably you won’t receive an answer as not many people know the name of this place. It’s better known as the observation deck in the Old Town, but still not everybody knows where it is.

And there is a reason for that. Gnojna Góra is quite a hidden place. If you leave Market Square and go along Jezuicka street, you have to turn left to Dawna Street through some kind of gate (the place from the photo) next to the Kanonia Hostel.

I used to study near the Old Town so I had the opportunity to be there at different times of the day. I really like autumn mornings there when there is almost nobody. You can take some sandwich for brunch and just sit there contemplating the beautiful view of Vistula and Praga district in the background :).

Despite all this, till the 19th century the place wasn’t so nice. It wasn’t nice at all, to be precise. It served as garbage and sewage storage from the whole of contemporary Warsaw. That’s where its name comes from. Gnój in Polish means muck. It was stinking so much there that finally in 1844 they decided to close it. And now we can relax sitting on more than 20m of dirtiness ;).

While visiting Gnojna Góra I recommend having a look at the free exhibitions organised in SCEK (Culture Education Centre, big glass entrance, open 13:00 – 20:00 daily). You can check the current exhibition here.