Gdansk - Impossible Splendour and Grandeur (Part One)
For almost every Polish citizen, Gdansk has a deep and important symbolic meaning.
It is a city entwined with a historic fight for autonomy, freedom, human rights.
Captured by the shady Teutonic Knights in the Middle Ages from the Polish king and Pagan tribes, with many reports of brutal massacres on the local Slavic population. After many years of Polish-Teutonic wars, Gdansk claimed allegiance to the Polish Crown and gained autonomous status in 1457.
The privilege gave the city many advantages in taxation, trade and law but perhaps most importantly - it tried to establish peace between its citizens - a mix of nationalities - with predominant Germans and Poles - also including Jews, Latvians, the Flanders, the Dutch and the Scots.
Arriving at Gdansk. Above - Gdansk Glowny railway station and adjacent buildings in a mannerism style from the year 1900. The station stretches at the Podwale Grodzkie, and Wały Jagielońskie a historic street that used to mark the end of the city walls and now is a multi-lane thoroughfare.
Complicated, both tragic and victorious history of the area, is encompassed in the nearby sanctuary.
The Teutonic architectural style of the Chapel of Confession and Adoration (above) - an incomprehensible consecration term for the non-Catholics.
In the 19th century, the Prussian authorities dissolved the Polish Carmelite order whom it belonged to for ages, and banned any preaching in Polish. Suffering a total damage by the Red Army at the end of Second World War - when 100 Germans were burnt alive within its walls, rebuilt in the 1950s.
Today the church is famous for long ques of people waiting for confession and expiation by the Oblate missionaries. In the year 2000, it was named as a Sanctuary for the Victims of the Inhumane Systems.
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Let's hang around here for a bit, it's interesting.
At the end of 13th-century the future Polish king, Władysław Łokietek, sat court law proceedings there. From the 16th century onwards, it had been firmly in the Protestants hands. Now the Carmelites are back again, after WWII, contemplating the misery and mystery of time - in tune with the world's first... pulsar clock.
Yes, you read right. Imagine a hooded monk of honest Medieval origins - not with an hourglass - but next to super-high-end equipment of a clock mechanism based on far-far-away-in-space neutron stars, emitting the most regular beams of electromagnetic radiation. Bing Bang, Bing Bang... Amazing.
The connection with the outer space does not end here. Inside the church, among loads of interesting things - such as other historic clocks, is a tombstone of Johannes Hevelius, the famous astronomer, who once also was the mayor of Danzig (Gdańsk). We did not know about these thrilling details (as many others revealed to you now) at the time of our short excursion - so much for the next one!
And again, the Old Town Hall near the Most Chlebowy (Bread Bridge) on Radunia River. It is one of the most precious buildings in the city, dating back to the 16th century, designed in the style of Dutch mannerism. One of a very few building the survived the Soviet Red Army rage. It has a rich art gallery.
In its basement, the above mentioned Johannes Hevelius used to store beer barrels. He brewed beer for commerce (astronomy was not a well-paid occupation in mid 17th century, perhaps as it is now). Hevelius monument is in front of the building. We haven't seen it.
Word of caution: upon visiting Gdansk, you must be warned to be prepared to face the magnitude of the resplendent surrounds and thus finding yourself in danger of missing a lot of interesting details. As we did.
We had to move forward, quickly. The time and our veins were already pulsating in the rhythm of the pulsar stars.
The Great Mill - Wielki Młyn, (on the right, just up) is a Teutonic construction, from 1350. A century later it had been taken over by the citizens of Gdańsk in the anti-Teutonic uprising against the extremist rule of the Order.
The Mill had been in continual use for nearly six centuries, producing flower and serving as a bake-house. We wondered how many generations of rodents it would have been home to... The mix-use since the end of Second World War - as a night-club, amusement arcade, Pewex store, a shopping centre - had brought more damage and devastation to the object then those six centuries of rodents...
Finally, the local authorities decided to take care of the heritage. It is planned to become a new home for the Museum of Amber, the semi-precious stone so abundant in the Baltic Sea shores. Proper use.
The most splendid example of the Gdansk mannerism style is Wielka Zbrojownia, the Arsenal (above, upper left, and below, right). An elaborate facade, bombarding with intricate details, no even close to being seen on our photos. That's why it is worth booking a glimpse in your own person.
The Arsenal would be best approached from Piwna Street (Beer Street, below left), then its glory can be fully appreciated.
On the other end of Piwna Street is one of the biggest brick-built churches in the world (after Munich and Bologne).
Bazylika Mariacka (Basilica of St. Mary) - sombre, stocky tower; it competes to dominate the cityscape with the sleek and slender tower of Ratusz Główny, the main Town Hall (lower, right) located along Dluga (Long) Street (probably one of the most fabulous streets in the world, as we were about to discover).
The below photos' crookedness is all due to the inviting name of the Piwna (Beer) Street and its many accommodations serving the golden potion. And the sizzling sun.
Above, right - entrance to the Uphagen House, belonging to one of the city's prosperous merchants of 18th century. Now open to the public - to step back in time. (Note on the 'to-do-list' longer stay in Gdansk).
The initial route in the foregone time into the city centre was through the Zlota Brama (Golden Gate above, left) a part of the old city fortifications. Dutch mannerism, of course.
Behind it, not seen here, is the Gothic building of the Brotherhood of St. George, the Katownia, an 'intimate' place... of prison and torture. There is also the famous street where the famous Dominican fair takes place - of which we only mention to remind ourselves to go there next time.
Rising from the Golden Gate are figures representing what the people of Gdansk considered as qualities of an ideal citizen: Peace, Freedom, Wealth, Fame, Agreement, Justice, Piety, Prudence.
There is also a Latin inscription: "In agreement, small republics grow, because of disagreement great republics fall". How true. And how difficult to maintain - when opposing forces are a world apart in their world-views; and one of them is unable to compromise, not for a single inch. What then, then?
The gate, as well as most of the old town, was destroyed by the Soviets in 1945 who defeated the Nazi occupation of Gdansk. It was rebuilt mostly by the Polish newcomers of Gdansk, by 1957 (the Germans were almost completely expelled from the city, as well as any semblance of German architecture). The Soviet Union eventually fell in 1989, as we know, partially thanks to the Solidarity workers union in Gdansk... What a history.
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Coming back to our Two Towers-competition, below the Main Town Hall, once again...
... and the lurking across a narrow lane, Wieza Mariacka of the St. Marys' Basilica.
Both had been erected in the style of Dutch architecture of the time (gothic Dutch, Dutch mannerism), both have been at the heart of Gdansk's life for ages, witnessing changing tides of faith and fortune, with a similar fate, eradicating them almost completely by warfare.
The Town Hall tower is higher. So, there we are...
But the true beauty in the eyes of the beholder rests in the lower levels of the cityscape.
Literally, the jaw-dropping amazement is inevitably forced on your facial muscles. You cannot help it.
The fabulous merchant houses are impossible. To built them and then - rebuilt or restore them to the highest quality possible - what an effort!
So many cities and their authorities lack even a small per cent of an such attitude; neglecting or demolishing its own heritage. What a shame! We won't be pinpointing, now. You know who and where they are.
Diverse in colour and detail, yet within the scope of unified style (yes, guess - mostly Dutch mannerism), the merchant houses are the treasure of the European architecture.
The houses along Dluga Street were built to show off the wealth of the merchants- the patrician, as they called themselves - after the Roman term signifying:
a free man in a free city, dealing in a free trade.
Quite right.
Gdansk was part of the Hanseatic League. This is an interesting entity - a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant towns, across Northern Europe.
The league dominated the trade for over three centuries (1100-1450) and in some form until 1800, (and in another form, it exists to this day) in the so-called 'Hansa territories' : wherever the merchants held their businesses, they held their own legal system, language, and the obligation for mutual protection against raids and so called 'piracy', mostly in the Baltic Sea.
(Can you see the roots of the modern system of the lobbying corporations here? Merchants are always merchants, and that's the problem with them. They want to trade, whatever the circumstances, they simply want profit. And they do not consider much the local customs, ties, traditions, values. As an historical fact, the Hansa League is a marvel. Only if you tend to dig deeper...)
The queen of the Hansa merchants' town was Lübeck; other important ones were Hamburg, Rostock in the German principalities, Bruges in Flanders, Bergen and Visby in the Kingdom of Norway, Stockholm in the Kingdom of Sweden, Riga in Latvia, Novogrod in Russia, and Danzig (Gdansk) in the Kingdom of Poland.
Most of them had acquired special privileges and independence from any imperial power, all were enclaves of considerable prosperity. Many of the towns had specific Hanseatic architecture, also known as the Baltic style, that had been heavily influenced in later years by the dominant Flemish artistry (yes, the Dutch mannerism).
On the other hand, some historians consider the Hansa Leauge as first informal European Union.
It stands in front of the splendid Artus Court, named after the legendary King Artur, to reflect the nobility and equality of the merchants who used to meet in the building's halls. Now it is a museum and art gallery. Proper use.
(We know from our adventure - in some cities - the place would be bought by Pizza Hut or Cafe Nero... What a brainless shame)
We immediately fell in love with Gdansk. We will cherish every moment of being there, and - we are extremely jealous of those happy folks who call it a home town.
Anyway, more than keen - to get to the river for the next portion of the potion - we were. The time was shrinking fast; we wanted to see as much as humanely possible. This visit to Gdansk was an unexpected and unprepared one...
The Motlava embankment was ahead, conspicuously waiting...
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Sources:
gdansk.oblaci.pl/historia-kosciola
www.trojmiasto.pl
www.hanse.org/en