Gdańsk: How Tradition Survived

Gdańsk, the fourth largest city in Poland, has been around for centuries, and has undergone much change in that time. At times largely influenced by Germans, it has always been an important port on the Baltic Sea, and still to this day preserves a sense of its legendary and prosperous history, but also remembers its sometimes tragic past.

Many cities on the Baltic Sea, such as Stockholm, Helsinki, or even Copenhagen, have small neighborhoods which preserve the same sort of 16th, 17th, and 18th century architecture and feel, but have otherwise been marred by modernist monstrosities, designed to rob the people of their history and their culture. Most of their citizens live in enormous, concrete, soulless apartment blocs, and only ever see their city's glorious center on a "big night out". Even then, many buildings such as shopping centers, train stations, and even government offices or other corporate offices are ugly, uninspiring structures of steel and glass. When in these cities, one often feels like they are nowhere, in some sort of international machine.

Though Gdańsk was brutally rebuilt with large planned "Soviet-style" apartments on the city's outskirts, as was nearly every other city controlled by a communist regime in the 20th century, the old town today feels like a lively, grounded, historic place, that was built by a certain people in a certain time. It is truly a beautiful sight, and one walks along the cobbled streets in awe at the art that adorns nearly every building. Statues perch themselves from every window sill and rooftop, and even drain pipes look like lions or dragons belching out runoff water. There are several impressive and humbling churches and cathedrals, and decadent gates leading to bridges over the Motława River. One can tell that this city grew over the ages on this river and these islands, and when one looks around and sees the massive redoubt fortifications to the South, the cranes of the busy harbor to the North, and walks along the narrow and elegant yet archaic house lined streets, one gets the sensation that this city truly deserves to be here.

This city has not always had it easy, however. Significant portions of the city were destroyed by heavy bombing in WWII, which actually began not far from the city itself. One can still occasionally see buildings damaged during fighting in the city. A crucial difference between Gdańsk and many other Western European cities which were heavily damaged during the war, however, is the fact that the residents of Gdańsk started rebuilding her in the style which she had previously been built in. Though of course many of the suburbs and former farmland surrounding the city were marred by the oppressive concrete tombs that communism and modernism brought, the city center is still a well preserved jewel of history and culture.

Now that Poland has entered the modern economy, and has been partaking in this world-wide exchange for nearly thirty years, it is inevitable that some "modernist steel & glass" type buildings are beginning to appear. The airport and many SKM railroad stations are constructed in this style, for example. Interestingly, though, new construction in this "modern" style in the center of the city (on formerly unoccupied land, likely an area destroyed during the war) actually incorporates the traditional style of buildings built in this city.

The new constructions, seen on the right (and with similar buildings appearing at other places on the main waterfront) clearly mimic and evoke the feeling of all the city's historic buildings, though they are constructed with more modern details and materials. Compared to English or American cities whose new constructions could seemingly exist anywhere else in the world, these buildings do a lot to at least attempt to preserve and express a cultural heritage.

The most important takeaway here is that the people of Gdańsk love their city, and it is this love that makes it a great city. Poland in general is a land proud of its people and tradition, in a way that sadly many other nations in the Western world have forgotten. Western quality of life would be improved if people lived in cities like this and were full of pride for their people, and it is important for the West to value its past in the same way that Poland does. Tradition has survived in this city, many times against all odds, and perhaps by following its example, Western tradition in many other nations can do the same.