Sights in Gdańsk
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Uphagens’ House
Stop at the Uphagens’ House to see the restored historic interior, a collection of sumptuously decorated rooms with period furniture from the 18th century. As you pass beyond the kitchen, take a minute to browse the family tree and history of the Uphagen family, outlined in English.
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Archaeological Museum
The extensive collection stresses the Polish cultural and ethnic roots of the region; if you haven’t had your fill of views elsewhere, you can also go to the top of the building’s tower.
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Tower Clocks Museum
The Tower Clocks Museum features a collection of old tower clocks from the 15th century onwards.
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Ethnographic Museum
The Ethnographic Museum has an interesting collection of rural household implements and crafts from the region.
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Modern Art Gallery
Behind the cathedral is the 18th-century abbots’ palace that now accommodates the Modern Art Gallery, a branch of the National Museum of Gdańsk.
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Archaeological Museum
The extensive collection stresses the Polish cultural and ethnic roots of the region; if you haven’t had your fill of views elsewhere, you can also go to the top of the building’s tower.
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Hyacinthus' Tower
In front of the Market Hall is the tall octagonal Hyacinthus' Tower, one of the remnants of the medieval fortifications. It was built around 1400 and, apart from its defensive role, it also served as a watchtower. Today it houses a photo shop.
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Ms Sołdek
MS Sołdek is a museum ship moored in front of the granaries. Once you’re on board and past the fairly dull introductory video, you can test the limits of your claustrophobia and vertigo in the lower and higher sections of the vessel.
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Court of the Fraternity of St George
The Court of the Fraternity of St George is a good example of late-Gothic secular architecture, dating from the 1490s. The roof is topped with a 16th-century octagonal tower, with St George and the Dragon on the spire (the 1556 original is in Gdańsk's National Museum).
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House Under the Angels
The House Under the Angels is also known as the English House (Dom Angielski) after the nationality of the merchants who owned it in the 17th century. At that time it was the largest burgher's house in Gdańsk. Today it's a student dorm, which says a lot about changing standards!
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Central Maritime Museum
Next door to the crane, the main annexe of the Central Maritime Museum is a featureless modern building displaying traditional rowing and sailing boats from various countries: there’s a Venetian gondola as a centrepiece in the foyer. English captioning is at its most minimal here.
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Uphagens’ House
Stop at the Uphagens’ House to see the restored historic interior, a collection of sumptuously decorated rooms with period furniture from the 18th century. As you pass beyond the kitchen, take a minute to browse the family tree and history of the Uphagen family, outlined in English.
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Golden House
The nearby 1618 Golden House, designed by Johan Voigt, has the richest façade in the city. In the friezes between storeys are 12 elaborately carved scenes interspersed with busts of famous historical figures, including two Polish kings. The four statues waving to you from the balustrade at the top are Cleopatra, Oedipus, Achilles and Antigone.
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Historical Museum of Gdańsk
Enter the building by twin flights of balustraded stairs and go through an ornate Baroque doorway (1766), which is topped by the city’s coat of arms guarded by two lions that, unusually, are both looking toward the Golden Gate, supposedly awaiting the arrival of the king. The doorway was the final addition to the external decoration of the building.
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Green Gate
The Long Market is flanked from the east by the Green Gate, marking the end of the Royal Way. It was built in the 1560s on the site of a medieval defensive gate and was supposed to be the residence of the kings. But they never stayed in what turned out to be a cold and uncomfortable lodge; they preferred the houses nearby, particularly those opposite the Artus Court.
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Great Mill
The peculiar seven-storey building opposite St Catherine's Church is the Great Mill. Built in around 1350 by the Teutonic Knights, it was the largest mill in medieval Europe at over 40m long and 26m high, and equipped with a set of 18 millstones, each 5m in diameter. The mill operated until 1945 and just before WWII produced 200 tonnes of flour per day. It now houses a modern shopping mall.
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Artus Court
Not many houses have a brand of vodka named after them, but the Artus Court behind the Neptune fountain is perhaps the single best-known house in Gdańsk. The court has been an essential stop for passing luminaries ever since its earliest days, and a photo display in the entrance shows an enviable selection of famous visitors, from King Henry IV of England to a host of contemporary presidents.
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Royal Chapel
Just to the north and completely overshadowed by St Mary's Church, sits the small Royal Chapel, squeezed between two houses. The only Baroque church in old Gdańsk, it was built between 1678 and 1681 to fulfil the last will of the primate of Poland of the time, Andrzej Olszowski. It was designed by famous royal architect Tylman van Gameren. Its façade is its more attractive feature, and bears the coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania and King Jan III Sobieski (the founder of the chapel).
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Church of the Holy Trinity
Formerly belonging to the Franciscan monastery, the Church of the Holy Trinity was built at the end of the 15th century, when the Gothic style had already reached its late decorative stage. After St Mary's Church it's the largest in town, with a spacious and lofty whitewashed interior topped with a superb, netlike vault. Note the high altar's assembly of panels from triptychs of different origins, the old tombstones paving the floor, and the spidery Baroque chandeliers from the mid-17th century.
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Guardhouse No 1
WWII broke out here at dawn on 1 September 1939, when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began shelling the Polish guard post. The garrison, which numbered just 182 men, held out for seven days before surrendering. The site is now a memorial, with some of the ruins left as they were after the bombardment, plus a massive monument put up in memory of the defenders. The surviving Guardhouse No 1 houses a small exhibition related to the event, including a model of the battle labelled in English.
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Bread Gate
In medieval times, the parallel east-west streets of the Main Town all had defensive gates at their riverfront ends. Some of them still exist, though most were altered in later periods. Walking north along Długie Pobrzeże (literally, Long Waterfront), you first get to the Bread Gate, at the end of ul Chlebnicka. It was built around 1450, still under the Teutonic Order, as shown by the original city coat of arms consisting of two crosses.
The crown was added by King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk in 1457, when Gdańsk was incorporated into the kingdom.
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ul Mariacka
The tiny ul Grząska will take you to ul Mariacka, the most atmospheric of all the streets in Gdańsk and unique in Poland. It was reconstructed after the war, almost from the ground up, with the utmost piety on the basis of old documents and illustrations, and every detail found in the rubble was incorporated. It looks amazingly authentic. It's the only street with a complete row of terraces, which gives it enormous charm, and is a trendy place lined with shops selling amber jewellery.
You'll also find some of the best stalls here during the Dominican Fair.
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Gdańsk Crane
Built in the mid-15th century as the biggest double-towered gate on the waterfront, it also served to move heavy cargoes directly onto or off the vessels. For this purpose two large wheels – 5m in diameter – were installed as a hoist with a rope wound around the axle; it was put in motion by people ‘walking’ along the inner circumference of the wheels as a treadmill. It could hoist loads of up to 2000kg, making it the biggest crane in medieval Europe. At the beginning of the 17th century another set of wheels was added higher up, for installing masts.
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Neptune Fountain
According to legend the Neptune Fountain, next to the town hall, once gushed forth with the trademark Gdańsk liqueur, Goldwasser. As the story goes, it spurted out of the trident one merry night and Neptune found himself endangered by crowds of drunken locals. Perhaps that's why in 1634 the fountain was fenced off with a wrought-iron barrier. The bronze statue was the work of another Flemish artist, Peter Husen; it was made between 1606 and 1613 and is the oldest secular monument in Poland.
A menagerie of stone sea creatures was added in the 1750s during the restoration of the fountain
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Town Hall
As you reach the eastern end of ul Długa, look up to the pinnacle of the Town Hall. This tall slim tower, the highest in Gdańsk (81.5m), has a life-sized gilded figure of King Zygmunt II August on top - a reward for his generosity in granting privileges to the city. The town hall has both Gothic and Renaissance elements. The first building was reputedly put up in the 1330s, but it grew and changed until the end of the 16th century.
In 1945 it was almost completely burnt out and the authorities were on the point of demolishing the ruin, which was eventually saved thanks to local protests.
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