LET'S EXPLORE POLAND

Copyright 1996 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 9

THE HANSEATIC TOWNS

GDANSK

Gdansk was the jewel of the Hanseatic League. Conveniently placed at the mouth of River Wisla, on the main trade route, in the 14th and 15th centuries the town of Gdansk grew to be one of the biggest and richest Baltic ports, at times matching in prosperity Lubeck, the capital of the Hanseatic League. It was important that the Gdansk's harbor could be entered by bigger ships which started to leave shipyards at that time. Their miniature models can be find now in the Central Maritime Museum of Gdansk; on the Dlugie Pobrzeie (Long Waterfront) stands the Crane: its inside mechanism helped to trans-ship cargo from and onto vessels and to put up their masts.

Numerous Glowne Miasto [Main Town] monuments come from that period, too. Big buildings and burgher houses built in the style of north European Renaissance by master-builders from Flanders and the Netherlands are decorated with characteristic ante-thresholds. The streets do not converge in the market place, but run down towards River Motlawa and the old Gdansk harbor together with Dlugi Targ [Long Market], which plays the role of the city's main market.

It is the Main Town of the present day Gdansk that lets the visitors perceive the climate of the Hanseatic period. Among many historical monuments a special mention is due to the gigantic Gothic St. Mary's Church (Poland's biggest) erected in 1343-1502, the Town Hall, the late-Gothic Artus Court which used to be the seat of merchants' guilds, and one of the city's symbols - the already mentioned Crane in the form of a Gothic twin tower gate. The town possesses a number of interesting monuments from other periods, too. They include the Gothic Cathedral in Oliwa with its famous Baroque organ.

SZCZECIN

Szczecin is the historical capital of Western Pomerania, used to be another important Hanseatic town on the southwestern coast of the Baltic Sea. In the 9th century, on top of a hill upon River Odra was erected a Slav stronghold surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat. The town joined the Hanseatic League in 1251. In the 14th century the maritime traffic in the Szczecin port was almost as heavy as in the port of Stralsund. The busiest trade routes led from Szczecin to Lubeck, Gdansk, Stockholm, Rewel (now Tallin), and Riga. The town of Szczecin had its own ships and the Hansa often made use of them.

The Castle of the Dukes of Pomerania is the symbol of the town. Duke Barnim III founded the castle in 1346, but its construction was completed many centuries later. Destroyed during World War II, it was reconstructed in the Renaissance style according to the designs from the 16th-17th centuries. Today it houses a cultural center which hosts numerous cultural events such as concerts, performances and exhibitions. The Hansa's times are evoked by the Gothic St. James' Cathedral from the 12th century, remodelled m the 14th and 15th centuries. The Cathedral witnessed an important cultural event in 1827: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy presented here to the public of Szczecin his famous "Wedding March".

The Town Hall also comes from the Hanseatic period. Its origins go back to the 13th century, but its present shape is an artful reconstruction of the Gothic structure created in the 15th century by the master-builders from the school of Henryk of Braniewo. Today, its basements contain an "U Wyszaka" mead cellar. It bears the name of a medieval merchant and ship-owner who became famous not only as one of the richest Szczecin burghers but also as a great lover of mead and wine.

STARGARD SZCZECINSKI

Stargard, situated east from Szczecin, is the next member of the Hanseatic League on the present Polish Territory. In 1253, when the town received its city rights from Duke Barnim I, it started to grow very fast. The town's burghers quickly developed trade and brokerage activities due to Stargard's convenient situation on the cross-roads of land trade routes and upon River Ina. The town tried to rival Szczecin in the medieval times. It was then that the powerful defensive city walls were built; a greater part of them survived until the present day in quite a good shape together with the Ice [Lodowa] and Blacksmith's [Kowalska] towers, as well as the highest (34 meters) tower called Red Sea [Morze Czerwone].

Numerous, well-preserved monuments of the present Stargard Szczecinski make it possible for us to easily travel back into its past. In addition to the defensive walls, there are Gothic houses, town hall, and the market place in the Old Town area. Visitors may admire St. Mary's parish church raised according to the design by Henryk Brunsberg, one of the best-known architects of the late Gothic period.

GOLENIOW

Goleniow can boast only very few monuments from the Hanseatic period. Sixty per cent of its urban substance lay in ruins by the end of World War 11. The town's trade flourished when it joined the League in 1368, being situated upon River Odra and only 20 km east of Szczecin. Only fragments of fortifications (13th-14th centuries) with a 26-meter-high Wolin Tower crowned with a steplike Gothic top survived the ravages of the war; the local Gothic church (15th century) was reconstructed.

WOLIN

A real tourist attraction of Western Pomerania is the town of Wolin, situated north of Szczecin on an island of the same name. It was an early medieval Slav port and an important center of maritime trade on the southern Baltic coast before foundation of the Hansa. The Slav tribes populated the island at that time, but there were also Normans, Saxons, visitors from northern Ruthenia, and even more remote parts of the world. Here, according to the Scandinavian legends, the Danish Vikings were supposed to establish their stronghold: this fact is marked during the annual Viking festival organized in Wolin.

Wolin, then a Polish town, became a member of the Hanseatic League in medieval times. A Slav prehistoric burial ground and the ruins of St. Nicholas' Church (15th-19th cc.) can be visited. Tourists from various countries are attracted to the town of Wolin by its particularly picturesque environs, which include the Wolin National Park, a sanctuary of water birds, roe deer, red-deer, and wild boar.

KAMIEN POMORSKI

Kamien Pomorski lies north-east of Szczecin. This little town of not quite ten thousand inhabitants now was almost as important trade center in the medieval times as the biggest cities of Western Pomerania. In the years 1180-1190 the local mint house was issuing the first Pomeranian coins.

It was the nature itself that caused the town's decline. The mouth of River Dziwna gradually got barred by sand and the traffic of barges transporting grain and other goods from the inland parts of Poland was halted: only a memory of the once thriving with life medieval trade center was preserved. However, the historical urban layout of the town center has remained unchanged until the present day. Long sections of the city defensive walls (14th-15th centuries) can still be seen along the coast of the Kamien Pomorski Bay. The Wolin Gate from the 15th century leads into the Old Town area; on the opposite side of the Old Town stands the Roman-cum-Gothic Cathedral raised in the 12th-13th centuries and reshaped in the mid-15th century; the Cathedral contains an excellent 18th century organ often used during the organ music recitals organized here.

GRYFICE

The town of Gryfice situated south-east of Kamien Pomorski, joined the Hanseatic League in 1365. The Reda river flowing nearby enhanced the development of trade, but the town never attained the importance of it bigger and more prosperous neighbors. Also the vestiges of the past are not s numerous here. Still, there are a few towers which once made part of the city fortifications, and the Gothic church from the 13th-14th centuries in the town center.

TRZEBIATOW

Another member of the Hanseatic League was Trzebiatow. This very old Slav settlement in Pomerania used to be cult center where oblations were made to pagan gods. The town received its urban rights in 1277 according to the so-called Lubeck law, and the right of navigation along the Reda river was granted to Trzebiatow in 1287. At that time the town had its own trade fleet and the big port of Regoujscie at the mouth of River Rega could receive numerous merchant`s ships. As a Hansa member, the town had the right to mint its own coins and it boasted of powerful fortifications much respected in the central Baltic Sea area.

The medieval urban layout of the town has been preserved until today. Trzebiatow has a number of historical monuments which include the fragments which include the fragments o defensive walls on the Rega river, a Gothic chapel, and the so-called Kaszana Tower mentioned in numerous legends. The Gothic St. Mary's Church (14th century) stands in the town center, topped with a 90 m high tower which contains one of Poland`s heaviest bells called Maria (7.2 tons).

BIALOGARD

Thirty-five kilometers south of Kolobrzeg lies Bialogard, a small town upon River Parseta. Its links with the Hanseatic League are marked by the presence of fragments of the old city walls from the 14th century with a well-preserved High [Wysoka] Tower. The local St. Mary's Church from topped with a 60-meter-high tower remodelled in the 19th century is another trace of Bialogard's past.

KOLOBRZEG

Kolobrzeg used to be one of Trzebiatow's rivals in the Hanseatic epoch. In the 15th century the Kolobrzeg merchants managed to burn down the port of Regoujscie. The town joined the Hanseatic League at the beginning of the 14th century; its economic prosperity was based, among other factors, on the existence of saline springs, and on the processing of herring.

Very few mementos of the medieval times remained in Kolobrzeg after the destruction of the town suffered during the Second War. The witnesses of the past include the fragments of old city fortifications with the Powder [Prochowa] Tower from the 15th century, the Gothic Collegiate Church of St. Mary (15th century) with a bronze font from 1335 and a standing chandelier (4 meters) from 1327. At present Kolobrzeg is one of the best-known Polish spas, a popular seaside resort.