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SERIALS FROM PAST ISSUES
LET'S EXPLORE POLAND
Copyright 1998 by the AngloPol Corporation
This series will take us through the cities, towns,
villages and countryside of Poland,
as well as give us insights into the rich history and culture of the
nation.
Part 33
INTRODUCING POMERANIA
(Continued)
Naklo is the beginning of the Bydgoszcz Canal that links the Odra
(through the Warta, Notec, Brda) with the Vistula. Pila, an ancient
forest settlement, today an important hub of transportation. Within the
limits of the town is a landscape reservation "Kuznik" and Miedwie, a
large lake with recreational centers all around it, the source of
drinking water for the city of Szczecin. Puck is associated with the
beginnings of the Polish fleet after World War I.
Wherever
one looks on the map of northwest Poland there is something tempting.
One example is Szczecinek with its numerous relics, which from an old
fishing settlement developed into an important town. Another possibility
is a pilgrimage to Sztutowo, where in the gloomy seaside landscape a
Nazi concentration camp was concealed, the place of execution of 65,000
people. There is also Swidwin and Swiecie, the health resort of
Swinoujscie with ferry connections to Sweden. One can visit Tuchola,
which gave its name to famous forests. There is also the Pomeranian
Bulwark, fragment of the famous Pommernstellung, where in 1945 hard
battles were fought for the road to Berlin. At Wiele there is an
interesting Way of the Cross, an embroidery and lace-making center,
ringing out with the speech and song of famous Kashubians who were born
here: the poet and publicist H. Derdowski (1852-1902) and the
storyteller and songwriter W. Rogala (1871-1958). And lost in the
forests is Polczyn Zdroj with its sources of mineral waters. In short,
there is a vast diversity of landscapes.
Many
famous people have linked their destiny with this land, such as Michal
Mostnik (Pontanus) of Smoldzino, guardian of the speech of the
Slovenians in the 18th century. There is the Pomeranian Erik, who in the
first half of the 15th century held in one hand the scepters of Sweden,
Norway, and Denmark, and later as the "last Viking of the Baltic" drank
from the bitter cup of an exile on the island of Gotland to finally
settle toward the end of his life in Darlowo and there rest for ever.
Here also was Duke Boguslaw X the Great, husband of Anna the Jagiellon,
daughter of the Polish King Kazimierz the Jagiellon, who transferred the
ducal seat from Kamien Pomorski to the flourishing 15th century
Szczecin. Here also in 1729, in Szczecin, was born duchess Sophia
Augusta Anhalt-Zerbst, later Empress Catherine the Great.
And at the other end of the coast in Gdansk, Constancia Kershenstein
(nee Czirenberg), who was admired by 17th century Italian and French
poets for her singing and painting talents. There lived Joanna
Schopenhauer nee Trosiner, mother of the famous philosopher Arthur,
authoress of the charming "Recollections of Gdansk" and friend of
Goethe.
This
list of famous people from Gdansk could be made much longer. It would
include the 17th century engraver Jeremiah Falck, who was famous in
Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Amsterdam; the great astronomer,
creator of modern selenography, Jan Heweliusz (also 17th century); the
Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter, the famous physicist
Daniel Fahrenheit, who lived on the turn of the 17th century; and the
famous painter and illustrator Daniel Chodowiecki.
Anyone who collects interesting bits of information and looks for
exceptional moods may recall a prince of Gdansk (given this title after
taking the city in 1807), Napoleon's marshal, Joseph Leferve, who with
his career brought glory to his carpenter father and his wife, the most
famous washerwoman in the world, Madame Sans-Gene.
Northwest Poland, on whose landscape man has written a rich and
stormy history, therefore has something attractive for everyone
throughout the entire year. For connoisseurs of architecture it is a
rich treasure house. For lovers of seaside beaches and vacations by the
sea is has long belts of white sands. For seekers of fishing and
canoeing thrills there are rivers and rivers and lakes and lakes. For
hunting enthusiasts - forests and forests. For lovers of folklore there
is the bewitching beauty of Kashubian customs. Besides this, the region
pulsates with the modernity of agricultural, industrial, and maritime
activity, coloring its daily life with famous cultural events--from
organ concerts in Kamien Pomorski and Oliwa to the piano competition in
Slupsk and the song festival in Sopot.
Of course, everyone will discover the charms and qualities of the
Pomeranian land for himself.
The following are the most important places in Pomerania, not only in
respect to the wealth of relics that have collected in them throughout
the centuries, but also with respect to their location, convenient for
making excursions into interesting and beautiful surroundings.
BYDGOSZCZ
A
provincial capital, Bydgoszcz is an important transportation hub
(railway and bus branch-off, Bydgoszcz Canal between the Notec and Brda
that links the Vistula with the Odra), a large industrial center
(chemical, machine, rubber, paper, radio, bicycle industries), cultural
and scientific center (Technical and Agricultural Academy, Higher
Pedagogical School, National Music College, Medical Academy, scientific
institutes, a philharmonic orchestra, opera, operetta, two theaters).
There are annual festivals of Polish music, including the international
congresses Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis. In the 13th century a
fortified town and castellan's seat, the town was chartered in 1346.
Among the relics are a late-Gothic 15th century parish church, church of
the Clarists of the end of the 16th century, remnants of defensive
walls, river-side granaries. The Leon Wyczolkowski Museum holds the
richest collection of the works of the great graphic artist and painter.
In the Old Market Square is a huge monument to the victims of Nazism. An
artificial ice skating rink and a rowing race course.
CHOJNICE
A
town near the large Lake Charzykowskie, Chojnice is a sailing center,
the starting point for excursions to the Tucholskie Forests and the
Krajenskie Lakeland Belt. It has steel construction and sporting
equipment works (racing boats), a regional museum and its local folk
band. A former frontier town of the Pomeranian dukes, it was captured in
1310 by the Teutonic Knights and regained in 1466. The visitor will find
a 14th century Gothic parish church, a late 18th century baroque church
in the Jesuit college complex, as well as fragments of 14th century
defensive walls with the Czluchowska Gate.
DARLOWO
A
town at the mouth of the Wieprza River, Darlowo is a fishing port,
seaside resort and tourist center. An ancient Slavic fishing settlement,
from 1361 it belonged to the Hansa League. It holds a Pomeranian Dukes
castle from the end of the 14th century and town walls with a 14th
century defensive gate. In the Gothic Marian church is the sarcophagus
of Duke Erik (d. 1459), great grandson of the Polish King Kazimierz the
Great. There is also the Church of St. George (15th-16th century) and
the late Gothic chapel of St. Gertrude.
GDANSK
Gdansk is a provincial capital at the mouth of the Stagnant Vistula
and Motlawa to the Baltic. It boasts a great commercial and ferry port
(ferry connections to Germany, Sweden and Finland), industrial works
(petrochemicals, chemicals, shipbuilding, metallurgy, electrotechnics,
textiles), culture (opera, philharmonic orchestra, theatres, numerous
museums with the Central Marine Museum and National Museum), and
scientific center (university and 5 higher schools, scientific
institutes, library of the Polish Academy of Sciences, scientific and
cultural societies, seat of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association.
The
origins of Gdansk go back to the 10th century. The port of Gdansk is
mentioned in 1148. It was deceitfully captured by the Teutonic Knights
in 1308. Regained in 1454, it was seized by Prussia in the second
partition of Poland (1793) and became a free city during the Napoleonic
period (1807-1815). After the Congress of Vienna it was again taken by
Prussia. In the years 1919-1939 it was a free city, then occupied by
Germany, and liberated in 1945 in battles that resulted in great
destruction.
The historic part of the town was rebuilt with great reverence. It
has one of the richest and most lavish complexes of architectonic relics
in Poland: The largest Gothic church (brick) in Poland of the Holy
Virgin Mary (15th-16th century), Church of St. Nicholas (14th century),
Baroque royal chapel (1678), complex of defensive walls and towers, Town
Hall of the Main Town (rebuilt 15th century late Gothic), Armory
(1602-05), Artus' Court (late Gothic interior with vaults on the
columns), Church of St. Catherine (14th century), Preachers' House
(15th-17th century), Church of St. Brigida (14th-15th century), Church
of St. James (1432), St. Elizabeth (c. 1400), Old Town Hall (1586-95),
Home of the Pelplin Abbots (1612), Franciscan monastery complex
(15th-16th century), now the National Museum, complex of defensive
earthworks with towers.
On the peninsula of Westerplatte, where the first shots of World War
II were fired, there is a monument to the Defenders of the Coast. In
front of the Gdansk Shipyard there is a monument to the dockyard workers
who fell in 1970. In the district of Oliwa is a late 13th century church
(rebuilt many times), with the famous organ (annual Festival of Organ
Music), a palace of the Cistercian abbots (15th and 18th centuries) and
a landscaped park that once belonged to the Cistercians.
GDYNIA
A
town on the Bay of Gdansk, Gdynia, together with Gdansk and Sopot makes
up an urban-port complex, the so-called Tri-City. It is a center of the
shipbuilding industry, as well as seat of the Higher Maritime School,
Naval Academy, Marine Fishing Institute, Institute of Marine and
Tropical Medicine. Worth visiting are the Oceanographic Museum and
Marine Aquarium. Tourists can visit the museum-sailing ship "Dar
Pomorza" and the museum-ship "Blyskawica." The city has large food,
electrotechnical, machine, metallurgical industries. Until the 20th
century it was a village, but in 1922 Parliament passed a law to build a
port and the town was chartered in 1926. Gdynia is famous for its heroic
defense in September, 1939.
GRUDZIADZ
A
town on the high, right bank of the Vistula, Grudziadz holds rubber,
metal, wood, clothing industries. In the 10th century it was a fortified
town of the Chelminska Land and from 1776 it was a fortress. Famous for
its great complex of granaries, it is colorfully located on the Vistula.
Visitors will find the mid-14th century Church of St. Nicholas, abbey of
the Benedictine nuns (now holding a regional museum, Gallery of Modern
Pomeranian Painting), Jesuit college (now the town hall), church and
monastery of the Order of the Reformati; fragments of defensive walls,
the Water Gate; and Klimek castle hilltop with an observation point.
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Wherever
one looks on the map of northwest Poland there is something tempting.
One example is Szczecinek with its numerous relics, which from an old
fishing settlement developed into an important town. Another possibility
is a pilgrimage to Sztutowo, where in the gloomy seaside landscape a
Nazi concentration camp was concealed, the place of execution of 65,000
people. There is also Swidwin and Swiecie, the health resort of
Swinoujscie with ferry connections to Sweden. One can visit Tuchola,
which gave its name to famous forests. There is also the Pomeranian
Bulwark, fragment of the famous Pommernstellung, where in 1945 hard
battles were fought for the road to Berlin. At Wiele there is an
interesting Way of the Cross, an embroidery and lace-making center,
ringing out with the speech and song of famous Kashubians who were born
here: the poet and publicist H. Derdowski (1852-1902) and the
storyteller and songwriter W. Rogala (1871-1958). And lost in the
forests is Polczyn Zdroj with its sources of mineral waters. In short,
there is a vast diversity of landscapes. 
Many
famous people have linked their destiny with this land, such as Michal
Mostnik (Pontanus) of Smoldzino, guardian of the speech of the
Slovenians in the 18th century. There is the Pomeranian Erik, who in the
first half of the 15th century held in one hand the scepters of Sweden,
Norway, and Denmark, and later as the "last Viking of the Baltic" drank
from the bitter cup of an exile on the island of Gotland to finally
settle toward the end of his life in Darlowo and there rest for ever.
Here also was Duke Boguslaw X the Great, husband of Anna the Jagiellon,
daughter of the Polish King Kazimierz the Jagiellon, who transferred the
ducal seat from Kamien Pomorski to the flourishing 15th century
Szczecin. Here also in 1729, in Szczecin, was born duchess Sophia
Augusta Anhalt-Zerbst, later Empress Catherine the Great. 
This
list of famous people from Gdansk could be made much longer. It would
include the 17th century engraver Jeremiah Falck, who was famous in
Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Amsterdam; the great astronomer,
creator of modern selenography, Jan Heweliusz (also 17th century); the
Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter, the famous physicist
Daniel Fahrenheit, who lived on the turn of the 17th century; and the
famous painter and illustrator Daniel Chodowiecki. 
A
provincial capital, Bydgoszcz is an important transportation hub
(railway and bus branch-off, Bydgoszcz Canal between the Notec and Brda
that links the Vistula with the Odra), a large industrial center
(chemical, machine, rubber, paper, radio, bicycle industries), cultural
and scientific center (Technical and Agricultural Academy, Higher
Pedagogical School, National Music College, Medical Academy, scientific
institutes, a philharmonic orchestra, opera, operetta, two theaters).
There are annual festivals of Polish music, including the international
congresses Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis. In the 13th century a
fortified town and castellan's seat, the town was chartered in 1346.
Among the relics are a late-Gothic 15th century parish church, church of
the Clarists of the end of the 16th century, remnants of defensive
walls, river-side granaries. The Leon Wyczolkowski Museum holds the
richest collection of the works of the great graphic artist and painter.
In the Old Market Square is a huge monument to the victims of Nazism. An
artificial ice skating rink and a rowing race course. 
A
town near the large Lake Charzykowskie, Chojnice is a sailing center,
the starting point for excursions to the Tucholskie Forests and the
Krajenskie Lakeland Belt. It has steel construction and sporting
equipment works (racing boats), a regional museum and its local folk
band. A former frontier town of the Pomeranian dukes, it was captured in
1310 by the Teutonic Knights and regained in 1466. The visitor will find
a 14th century Gothic parish church, a late 18th century baroque church
in the Jesuit college complex, as well as fragments of 14th century
defensive walls with the Czluchowska Gate. 
A
town at the mouth of the Wieprza River, Darlowo is a fishing port,
seaside resort and tourist center. An ancient Slavic fishing settlement,
from 1361 it belonged to the Hansa League. It holds a Pomeranian Dukes
castle from the end of the 14th century and town walls with a 14th
century defensive gate. In the Gothic Marian church is the sarcophagus
of Duke Erik (d. 1459), great grandson of the Polish King Kazimierz the
Great. There is also the Church of St. George (15th-16th century) and
the late Gothic chapel of St. Gertrude. 
The
origins of Gdansk go back to the 10th century. The port of Gdansk is
mentioned in 1148. It was deceitfully captured by the Teutonic Knights
in 1308. Regained in 1454, it was seized by Prussia in the second
partition of Poland (1793) and became a free city during the Napoleonic
period (1807-1815). After the Congress of Vienna it was again taken by
Prussia. In the years 1919-1939 it was a free city, then occupied by
Germany, and liberated in 1945 in battles that resulted in great
destruction. 
A
town on the Bay of Gdansk, Gdynia, together with Gdansk and Sopot makes
up an urban-port complex, the so-called Tri-City. It is a center of the
shipbuilding industry, as well as seat of the Higher Maritime School,
Naval Academy, Marine Fishing Institute, Institute of Marine and
Tropical Medicine. Worth visiting are the Oceanographic Museum and
Marine Aquarium. Tourists can visit the museum-sailing ship "Dar
Pomorza" and the museum-ship "Blyskawica." The city has large food,
electrotechnical, machine, metallurgical industries. Until the 20th
century it was a village, but in 1922 Parliament passed a law to build a
port and the town was chartered in 1926. Gdynia is famous for its heroic
defense in September, 1939. 
A
town on the high, right bank of the Vistula, Grudziadz holds rubber,
metal, wood, clothing industries. In the 10th century it was a fortified
town of the Chelminska Land and from 1776 it was a fortress. Famous for
its great complex of granaries, it is colorfully located on the Vistula.
Visitors will find the mid-14th century Church of St. Nicholas, abbey of
the Benedictine nuns (now holding a regional museum, Gallery of Modern
Pomeranian Painting), Jesuit college (now the town hall), church and
monastery of the Order of the Reformati; fragments of defensive walls,
the Water Gate; and Klimek castle hilltop with an observation point.