Hansastadt Danzig (Gdansk)

Member Name: MagdaDH

Product:	Gdansk
Date:	30/09/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: attractive city steeped in history in a great location

Disadvantages: none for the tourists

Most British or American people who heard of Gdansk associate with Solidarity, Lech Walesa and shipyards: images of industrial grime, smoke-filled sky and communist-era concrete apartment blocks are a natural association.

And while Gdansk has its own quota of concrete suburbs and several major industries, and the cranes of the shipyard are still visible if not exactly operational, the grim industrial image couldn't be further from the truth.

The city is located in the north of Poland, at the mouth of the Vistula river and on the Baltic sea (in the Bay of Gdansk).

==A Bit of History==

Gdansk (often known under its German name of Danzig) is and old city, first mentioned as far as 997 AD but which flourished in the medieval period as part of the Hanseatic League. From 15th century, it was an autonomous merchant city with an allegiance to the Polish crown, to then go under the Prussian rule during the partitions of Poland in the end of 18th century. After the WW1 and the Polish independence, it was given a status of a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations. Annexed to German Reich during the WW2 (in fact, WW2 nominally started in Gdansk, with the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein firing at the Polish base at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939). The city (or at least its old centre) was almost entirely destroyed when in 1945 the Soviet Army marched in.

Gdansk became a part of the post-war Poland and its historic centre has been painstakingly reconstructed (similarly to the Warsaw Old Town) and now delights locals and visitors who can hardly believe when they see the photos showing the extent of destruction 60 years ago.

Historically, Gdansk always was a cosmopolitan city: its prosperity was built on trading - mostly of Polish grain transported down Vistula river - and its population, culture and architecture was created by a mixture of German, Polish, Dutch, Flemish and many other influences (there was even a Scottish settlement here, still reflected in the names of two districts: Stare and Nowe Szkoty - Old and New Scots).

After the WW2, Gdansk - just like other formerly German areas that became the part of Poland in 1945 - underwent something of an ethnic cleansing. Many of the German population fled in terror of the advanced Red Army and the remaining survivors left or were deported to Germany. The new population of the city included significant number of ethnic Poles deported from pre-war Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union, followed by the Kaszubian migrants for the surrounding countryside and Poles from the other parts of the country, keen to start afresh and attracted by the newly developing maritime and shipbuilding industries.

Post-war, Gdansk's main claim to fame was, indeed, its role in the events of the 1980, the creation of Solidarity and ultimately the fall of the communist regime in Poland ten years later.

Modern Gdansk is a city of 500,000 people, usually regarded as a part of the Tri-City conurbation, being the largest and oldest of the three (the other two are Sopot and Gdynia). It has several universities, music venues and theatres, thriving art and music scene and enough to see (especially with the surrounding areas) to easily occupy a visitor for at least a week.

==Sights in the Centre==

The main sights of Gdansk are located within the central area of town, and perhaps surprisingly, concentrate in what technically is known as the Main Town, but which everybody calls the Old Town anyway - Staroovka in phonetically rendered Polish.

The best way to get the feel for Gdansk is to start by walking what is called the Royal Way - the way that Polish kings used to take when they visited the city. If you arrive by train, walk (or take a tram one stop) along the busy Waly Jagielonskie and then Okopowa street and don't get tempted to dive into the interesting looking streets to the side.

Get off by the Upland Gate, an imposing Renaissance stone structure just by the busy road. Beyond that you'll find the Foreworks, or Gdansk Barbican, or Prison Tower with the Torture House (Wieza Wiezienna and Katownia), originally a part of Gothic period fortifications (rebuild with Renaissance's influences and later on used for jail and court functions suggested by the names), and currently and somehow incongruently, housing the fascinating Museum of Amber.

Amber is found on the beaches of the Baltic near Gdansk and traditionally has been used by local jewellers - you can buy modern wares in countless shops and galleries in town, but the Museum presents both the natural and cultural the history of this unique resin as well as amazing examples of natural amber (of which perhaps the best is an inclusion of a lizard in a piece of amber) and amber craft.

Past the Foreworks you will see the actual entrance to the city proper, the Golden Gate (Zlota Brama) and, next to it, The Court of the Society of St. George (Dwor Bractwa Swietego Jerzego), a reinessaince mansion which originally housed the organisation of the Gdansk's richest burghers.

The Golden Gate has been magnificently restored to its full gilded and painted glory: look up for the sculptures and other decorations.

As you pass under the gate, the vista of ulica Dluga and Dlugi Targ (The Long Street and the Long Market) opens up, lined with restored Dutch-style merchant houses and mansions and provide never ending interest with intricate stonework and wall decorations. The street level houses shops, cafes, art galleries and other outfits, from the main Gdansk Post Office to the British Council library.

The houses are so tall and narrow because the rates were determined by the width of the facade - so the canny burghers built up.

You can peek inside one, brought to life as it would have been in the original period, at Uphagen's House (Dom Uphagena) part of the Historical Museum of Gdansk.

As the Long Street turns into the wider Long Market, you come to some of the most iconic sighs of Gdansk: the magnificent Renaissance's Town Hall, the Artus Court and outside, the Neptune fountain.

Both the Town Hall and the Artus Court (house of merchants' guilds) have museum interiors, and are interesting but not unmissable. Artus Court contains something of a landmark, though: reputedly a tallest renaissance tiled stove in Europe (1545), reverently rebuilt according to the original spec and covered in decorated tiles and definitely worth a look.

The Green Gate (Zielona Brama) separates the Long Market from the Long Quay (Dlugie Pobrzeze). The gate is actually not green at all, the name refers to the long-gone wooden doors that closed the arches when the gate was in practical use.

The area of the Long Quay by Motlawa river used to be Gdansk's main port, as evidenced by the presence of the instantly recognisable shape of the brick Crane, towering over the river and now a crowning glory of Gdansk's Maritime Museum.

This is a centre of the very touristy Gdansk, crowded in the summer with visitors and promenading locals, and unbearable in the two weeks of the Dominican Fair in August, but in quieter periods it's a pleasant area with cafes, gift shops and restaurants, and good views to the river. Excursion boats ply the river taking visitors for the tours of the port or to Westerplatte monuments and across the Bay of Gdansk to Sopot, Gdynia and Hel peninsula.

From the Long Quay a series of gates leads back to streets of the Old Town, and each of them is worth a stroll. ST Mary's Gate (Brama Mariacka) leads to the street of the same name, perhaps the prettiest (if rather turistified) of the Old Gdansk street, where the tall merchant houses are still equipped with high porches adorned with elaborate balustrades.

This is traditionally a jewellers' street and there is plenty to choose from is you want to buy some amber goods, though less prominent outlets on back streets and outside the centre of Gdansk can offer better value bargains.

Mariacka street is not a long one, and it leads straight to one of the most arresting monuments of Gdansk, the biggest and arguably one of the best churches in the whole of Poland: a huge, brick shape of the Gothic Basilica of St Mary.

Inside, the vast, white-washed interior has a severe beauty of its own, and forms and excellent background to some excellent artworks: a Gothic crucifix, a fascination astronomical clock and a a (copy of) the brilliant Last Judgement by Hans Memling. If you have a height for heights, climb up the 400 steps to the viewing platform on the bell tower: it's a terrible slog, but well, well worth it for magnificent views of the city and its environs.

== Museums==

Gdansk has several decent museums in addition to the already mentioned Amber one.

The Maritime Museum is one of the best ones, with imaginative ethnographic displays of exotic boats, the Crane building and exhibition, a museum freighter from the 50's and more in several galleries scattered around the Long Quay.

The National Museum (at ul. Torunska, to the back of the Main Town) offers Maddonas galore in a great collection of Gothic Art and a good selection of the Dutch school, with Memling and Van Dyck testifying to the links of Gdansk with the Low Countries.

The Archaeological Museum has a lot of exhibits, but mostly of local interest (and a good viewing point at its tower).

Outside the immediate Old Town area, but still within walking distance, the Three Crosses monument stands in front of what was the Lenin Shipyards, in homage to those killed during the strikes of 1970 and reminding of the heyday of Solidarity, which is brought to life by the Roads to Freedom exhibition at the nearby Solidarity Museum.

==Outlying Districts==

Out of town, Wisloujscie Fortress and Westerplatte might be of interest to military history buffs.

The suburb of Oliwa has enough interest for a good day out, with its magnificent Cathedral complete with world-renowned baroque organs and surrounded by a pleasant park with ponds and a palm house; nearby there is an Abbot's Palace and the Ethnographical Museum. Oliwa ZOO, located in the idyllic, pastoral setting is the largest in Poland and will be a star attraction for children.

Both Gdynia and Sopot are worth at least a day trip - and a spearate introductory guide.

Summary: one of the Polish must-see destinations