Two Days of Freedom in Gdańsk
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Two days of freedom a weekend in Gdańsk publisher: The Mayor’s Office for the Promotion of Gdańsk / Gdańsk Tourist Organization email: [email protected] / [email protected] www.facebook.com/MiastoGdansk text: Ewa Kowalska (www.ibedeker.pl) We thank the following for making photos available: The Hewelianum Centre, the Amber Museum, the Gdańsk History Museum, the National Museum, the Nowy Port Lighthouse, the European Solidarity Centre. Table of Contents Freedom Trail 4 The Magic of Amber 8 Treasures of Architecture and Art 10 City on the Water 16 Gdańsk for the Young 19 Gdańsk Cuisine 21 Alternative sightseeing 22 reklamy Weekend in Gdańsk Gdańsk - centuries ago a powerful storehouse for Europe and trade destination for travelling merchants, attracted by famous granaries filled with all types of goods. Today it is an important point on the tourist map of the world. Its fascinating history is like a magnet, with majestic architecture, sea, beach and am- ber, but above all the spirit of liberty. It is here, in Gdańsk, a movement was born under the charismatic leadership of Lech Walesa which led to the fall of communism in Europe. The forces radiating from the Gdańsk Shipyard caused that from all the corners of the world the City on the Motława River is associated with the most precious value - freedom. To touch it, one just needs to come here for at least a weekend – to marvel at the view of the three crosses rising from Solidar- ity square, to climb Góra Gradowa and admire from afar the silhouettes of the shipyard cranes - eyewitnesses to major changes, or ascend the tower of St. Mary’s Basilica and from there soak up the panorama view of the city. Freedom Trail 4 5 On 14 August 1980 a strike broke out in the Gdańsk shipyard. A demand was given for the activists of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast to be reinstated to work, to erect a monument In August 1980 crowds anchors are symbols of dedicated to the victims began to gather at gate No hope, commemorating the of the December 1970 2. The eyes of the entire bloody sacrifices of victims protests, a guarantee not world were focused on of the strikes, but they are to repress the strikers Gdańsk. On August 31, the also a symbol of faith in a and wage increases. Lech Polish communist govern- better tomorrow. This hope Walesa stood at the head ment approved the first to live in a free country of the Inter-Enterprise independent trade union in was also accompanied by Strike Committee and the Communist Bloc as well demonstrators, who after the strikers presented 21 as made a commitment to establishment of martial demands on two wooden implement the remaining law on 13 December 1981 boards. Above all they demands of the strikers. protested against this deci- called for acceptance of At once construction began sion in the streets of the free trade unions, inde- on the Monument to the city. The Monument to the pendent from parties and Fallen Shipyard Workers Fallen Shipyard Workers on employers. Today, the of 1970. It stood not far several occasions wit- wooden boards with the from Gate No 2, where the nessed brutal suppression handwritten demands of first victims of the anti- of protests by divisions of the strikers are entered communist demonstration the Citizens’ Militia. on the UNESCO World in December 1970 were Heritage List entitled killed. The soaring three “Memory of the World”. crosses with powerful Holy Mass and the singing of the former Health and shipyard workers against the Safety Hall of the Gdańsk backdrop of numerous slides, Shipyard and the place photos and symbolic blocks of where the leader of styrofoam. The reconstructed “Solidarity” jumped over Health and Safety Hall, in the wall, but also objects which negotiations were related to the early history conducted with representa- of the shipyard - buildings tives of the shipyard and the and ramps of the Imperial government, are filled with Shipyard as well as the such things as large format U-boat Hall. photographs showing the his- 6 torical moment of signing the 7 Next to it, in the Gdańsk Agreement. The next basement of the Indepen- stage of the exhibition recalls dent Self-governing Trade months full of hope, inextrica- Union “Solidarity”, visitors bly linked to “Solidarity”, and can return to the facts and the return to the nightmare, the atmosphere of the years this time associated with the 1956-1989 and to important introduction of martial law. events of that period for our “Time of change” is the title of country. A poor food shop the last part of this extraor- from the 1970’s, documents dinary exhibition reproduc- testifying about uprisings ing the historic journey to against the Communist freedom. At this final stage of authority, and a symbolic the exhibition there is also a prison cell from the period room devoted to the transition of totalitarianism illustrate period in countries of Central Polish life up to the birth of and Eastern Europe. the Solidarity movement. Through the recreated After moving images, it’s time historical model of Gate No to take a break. In season you Before leaving the shipyard area you need to go to the Buffet 2 visitors actually enter the can check out the Subjective pub, whose interior is decorated in the likeness of a “milk striking world of August Bus Line. A historical bus bar” from communist times. An additional attraction is the 1980. The original gate, called the “cucumber” takes extending view of the cranes and the Wyspa Institute of Art as an object of particular visitors on a tour around the adjacent to the bar. importance for history and terrain of the shipyard, where cultural heritage, received former Gdańsk shipyard A point along the freedom route that you must see is the from the European Union the workers play the role of tour Zaspa estate. The large concrete slab residential buildings title of European Heritage guides. During tours to ship- arising from the former airport runway, which during com- Label. yard areas that are usually munist times were sad and grey, are today decorated with Here you can listen to closed on a daily basis you Poland’s largest collection of Monumental Paintings. As part authentic conversations of can not only see things such of the Festival of Monumental Art 30 large paintings have those striking, extracts from as Lech Walesa’s workshop, already been painted. the Golden Age of Gdańsk. The highest storeys have breathtaking exhibitions of amber jewellery. Tourists, enchanted by the sight of amber wonders, can satisfy their appetite for Baltic gold in numerous gal- The Magic leries. On Długi Targ Street, the Long Embankment, and of Amber above all on Mariacka Street, 8 called the Fifth Avenue of 9 Amber, you may not only The greatest treasure of the make a satisfying purchase altar, a small vault with a monstrance 174 cm high and weigh- Baltic is amber. Even ancient from a wide range of jewel- ing 30 kg catches attention. Romans, appreciating its lery, trinkets and souvenirs beauty, magic and health from Gdańsk. Here you can The Gdańsk Amber route also leads us to ... the football characteristics, came to also observe the processing stadium built for UEFA EURO 2012™. The inspiration for the Gdańsk, infected with the of amber, see an exhibition stadium’s designers, built on this area forgotten after the “amber fever”. Today amber of unusual specimens and war, was the natural beauty of amber. The delicate, transpar- is one of the most important inclusions, and even try your ent covering of the stadium, with a colour alluding to amber symbols of the city, which by own creativity by designing lumps, leaves no doubt that this is the biggest “amber” on no coincidence is called the jewellery yourself. the Polish coast. Built over 45 months the stadium is 45 amber capital of the world. To see a true masterpiece metres high, occupies 34 ha of land and holds 44 thousand The richest collections of of art, you need to visit St. people. this valuable, raw mate- Bridget Basilica at Profesor- rial can be admired in the ska Street in Gdańsk. Amber Museum, located in the Prison Tower of the Fore St. Bridget Church is par- Gate Complex. The golden ticularly noted in our history amber wonderfully warms in August 1980, during the the powerful gothic walls of labour strikes, as a shelter this building. The exhibition and meeting place for the located on several floors anti-communist opposition, allows you to gradually supported spiritually by become familiar with amber, Father Henryk Jankowski. from its “birth”, meaning Here is being built a monu- creation of fossilized resins mental altar from amber 11 from coniferous trees, to its metres high. It was designed oldest discoveries reaching in the form of a triptych, with to the Palaeolithic Age and the image of Our Lady of the the first craft works, all the Working Class as the central way to the amber boom in part. Apart from the emerging Treasures of Architecture and Art 10 Pre-war Gdańsk, perfectly important part of modern combining the features of a fortifications. charming city with a powerful Set in massive embank- centre of port industry, in ments, surrounded by a April 1945 was turned into 3 moat, stocked with massive million cubic metres of debris weapons and a drawbridge, by the Soviet army. Slowly, it defended access to the city’s longest medieval entrance stairs invite you in- thanks to the persistence of city. Its military nature is street.