On 7 April 2017, in Warsaw, Bishop Ryszard Kasyna of Pelplin signed a contract with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the co-financing of the Project entitled: “Baroque park complex in Pelplin – making the area accessible through land development and providing new cultural and exhibition functions” under Measure 8.1 priority axis VIII Protection of cultural heritage and development of cultural resources of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2014 - 2020.

The objective of the project is to protect and develop the cultural heritage of the Baroque park complex in Pelplin. The achievement of this objective will be supported by three partial objectives:

1. Revalorisation of the Baroque park complex in Pelplin,
2. Creation of a cultural and educational offer using resources of the Baroque park complex in Pelplin (e.g. exhibition space in the building of the old cart house),
3. Creation of a new tourist offer of the Baroque park complex in Pelplin constituting a part of the tourist product “Medieval Post-Cistercian Abbey in Pelplin”.

The Bishop’s Gardens, which are a part of the post-Cistercian and cathedral complex, are a valuable monument with several hundred years of history. Tourists coming to Pelplin are eager to visit the Cathedral Basilica and the Diocesan Museum. However, the Bishops’ Gardens are only open to visitors sporadically, a few times a year.

The Bishops’ Gardens feature a geometrical arrangement of park alleys, numerous hornbeam, chestnut and lime trees and a pond. Unfortunately, the activities carried out over the last few decades have led the garden to a state far from its former glory. The lack of a professional gardener has caused some of the planting to be completely out of character with the historic shape of the Gardens and contrary to the art of garden design. The condition of many trees is unsatisfactory, a lot of them require urgent sanitary and tending treatments.

The possibility of exploiting the potential of the Bishops’ Gardens fits into the wider context of tourism development in Pelplin. In recent years a slow decline in the number of visitors to Pelplin has been observed. The sales statistics of tickets to the most famous facility in Pelplin – the Cathedral Basilica – confirm the unfavourable trend. This proves that the tourist offer is no longer attractive for the visitors and thus requires the addition of new elements.

The scope of activities planned within the project includes : construction of alleys and paths in the park, arranging the greenery, construction of irrigation, lighting and monitoring systems, construction, sanitary and electrical works in the Cistercian Gardens Gallery, making a design and wall painting in the children’s room in the Cistercian Gardens Gallery, equipping the Cistercian Gardens Gallery with equipment for cultural and educational activities, creating a new cultural and educational offer, creating a café and a souvenir kiosk, renovating the gate building, building a stage in the park, information activities to promote the new offer on the market. Value of the project: PLN 20,518,148.84 (eligible expenditure: PLN 20,510,288,84). Co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund: PLN 17,433,745.51.