The city is located on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population approaching 1.4 million.
Gdańsk is the capital of Gdańsk Pomerania and the largest city of north Poland. The city's history is complex, with periods of Polish rule, periods of Prussian or German rule, and periods of autonomy or self-rule as a "free city". In the early-modern age Gdańsk was a royal city of Poland. It was considered the wealthiest and the largest city of Poland, prior to the 18th century rapid growth of Warsaw. Between the world wars, the Free City of Danzig, having a German majority, was in a customs union with Poland and was situated between East Prussia and the so-called Polish Corridor.
Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River, connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the nearby Vistula River, which drains 60 percent of Poland and connects Gdańsk with the Polish capital, Warsaw. Together with the nearby port of Gdynia, Gdańsk is also a notable industrial center. In the late Middle Ages it was an important seaport and shipbuilding town and, in the 14th and 15th centuries, a member of the Hanseatic League.
In the interwar period, owing to its multi-ethnic make-up and history, Gdańsk lay in a disputed region between Poland and the Weimar Republic, which later became Nazi Germany. The city's ambiguous political status was exploited, furthering tension between the two countries, which would ultimately culminate in the Invasion of Poland and the first clash of the Second World War just outside the city limits, followed by the flight and expulsion of the majority of the previous population in 1945. In the 1980s it would become the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which played a major role in bringing an end to Communist rule in Poland and helped precipitate the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Gdańsk is home to the University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, the National Museum, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, the Museum of the Second World War, Polish Baltic Philharmonic and the European Solidarity Centre. The city also hosts St. Dominic's Fair, which dates back to 1260, and is regarded as one of the biggest trade and cultural events in Europe.
The city has some buildings surviving from the time of the Hanseatic League. Most tourist attractions are located along or near Ulica Długa (Long Street) and Długi Targ (Long Market), a pedestrian thoroughfare surrounded by buildings reconstructed in historical (primarily during the 17th century) style and flanked at both ends by elaborate city gates. This part of the city is sometimes referred to as the Royal Route, since it was once the former path of processions for visiting Kings of Poland.
Walking from end to end, sites encountered on or near the Royal Route include:
- Highland Gate (Brama Wyżynna)
- Torture House (Katownia)
- Prison Tower (Wieża więzienna)
- Mansion of the Society of Saint George (Dwór Bractwa św. Jerzego)
- Golden Gate (Złota Brama)
- Long Street (Ulica Długa)
- Uphagen's House (Dom Uphagena)
- Lion's Castle (Lwi Zamek)
- Main Town Hall (Ratusz Głównego Miasta, built 1378-1492)
- Long Market (Długi Targ)
- Artus' Court (Dwór Artusa)
- Neptune's Fountain (Fontanna Neptuna)
- Golden House (Złota Kamienica)
- Green Gate (Zielona Brama)
Gdańsk has a number of historical churches, including St. Catherine's Church and St. Mary's Church (Bazylika Mariacka). This latter is a municipal church built during the 15th century, and is the largest brick church in the world.
The city's 17th-century fortifications represent one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (Pomnik historii), as designated on 16 September 1994 and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland.
Other main sights in the historical city centre include:
- Royal Chapel of the Polish King John III Sobieski
- Żuraw – medieval port crane
- Gradowa Hill
- Granaries on the Ołowianka and Granary Islands
- Great Armoury
- John III Sobieski Monument
- Old Town Hall
- Jan Heweliusz Monument
- Great Mill (1350)
- Small Mill
- House of Research Society
- Polish Post Office, site of the 1939 battle
- brick gothic town gates, i.e. Mariacka Gate, Straganiarska Gate, Cow Gate
Main sights outside the historical city centre include:
- Abbot's Palace in the Oliwa Park
- Lighthouse in Nowy Port
- Oliwa Cathedral
- Pachołek Hill – an observation point in Oliwa
- Pier in Brzeźno
- Westerplatte
- Wisłoujście Fortress
- Gdańsk Zoo
Museums
- EntertainmentNational Museum (Muzeum Narodowe)
- Department of Ancient Art - contains a number of important artworks, including Hans Memling's Last Judgement
- Green Gate
- Department of Modern Art - in the Abbot's Palace in Oliwa
- Ethnography Department - in the Abbot's Granary in Oliwa
- Gdańsk Photography Gallery
- Historical Museum (Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Gdańska):
- Main Town Hall
- Artus' Court
- Uphagen's House
- Amber Museum (Muzeum Bursztynu)
- Museum of the Polish Post (Muzeum Poczty Polskiej)
- Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte
- Museum of Tower Clocks (Muzeum Zegarów Wieżowych)
- Wisłoujście Fortress
- National Maritime Museum, Gdańsk (Narodowe Muzeum Morskie):
- Żuraw Crane
- Granaries in Ołowianka
- museum ship SS Soldek is anchored on the Motława River and was the first ship built in post-war Poland.
- European Solidarity Centre. Museum and library dedicated to the history of the Solidarity movement.
- Archeological Museum (Muzeum Archeologiczne)
- Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse (Latarnia Morska Gdańsk Nowy Port)
- Izba Pamięci Wincentego Pola w Gdańsku-Sobieszewie
- Archdiocese Museum (Muzeum Archidiecezjalne)
- Museum of the Second World War
- Polish Baltic Philharmonic
- Baltic Opera
- Teatr Wybrzeże
- Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre is a Shakespearean theatre built on the historical site of a 17th-century playhouse where English travelling players came to perform. The new theatre, completed in 2014, hosts the annual Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival
- Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport – an international airport located in Gdańsk;
- The Szybka Kolej Miejska, (SKM) the Fast Urban Railway, functions as a Metro system for the Tricity area including Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia, operating frequent trains to 27 stations covering the Tricity.[86] The service is operated by electric multiple unit trains at a frequency of 6 minutes to 30 minutes between trains (depending on the time of day) on the central section between Gdańsk and Gdynia, and less frequently on outlying sections. The SKM system has been extended northwest of the Tricity, to Wejherowo, Lębork and Słupsk, 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of Gdynia, and to the south it has been extended to Tczew, 31 kilometres (19 miles) south of Gdańsk.
- Railways: The principal station in Gdańsk is Gdańsk Główny railway station, served by both SKM local trains and PKP long distance trains. In addition, long distance trains also stop at Gdańsk Oliwa railway station, Gdańsk Wrzeszcz railway station, Sopot and Gdynia. Gdańsk also has nine (9) other railway stations, served by local SKM trains;
- Long distance trains are operated by PKP Intercity which provides connections with all major Polish cities, including Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Poznań, Katowice and Szczecin, and with the neighbouring Kashubian Lakes region.
In 2011–2015 the Warsaw-Gdańsk-Gdynia railway route underwent a major upgrading costing $3 billion, partly funded by the European Investment Bank, including track replacement, realignment of curves and relocation of sections of track to allow speeds up to 200 km/h (124 mph), modernization of stations, and installation of the most modern ETCS signalling system, which was completed in June 2015. In December 2014 new Alstom Pendolino high-speed trains were put into service between Gdańsk, Warsaw and Kraków reducing the rail travel time from Gdańsk to Warsaw to 2 hours 58 minutes, further reduced in December 2015 to 2 hours 39 minutes.
Transportation
- A new railway, Pomorska Kolej Metropolitalna (PKM, the 'Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway'), commenced service on 1 September 2015, connecting Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport with Wrzeszcz and downtown Gdańsk. It connects to the Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) (SKM) which provides further connections to the entire area served by SKM.
- City buses and trams are operated by ZTM Gdansk (Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego w Gdańsku).
- Port of Gdańsk – a seaport located on the southern coast of Gdańsk Bay within the city;
- Obwodnica Trojmiejska – part of expressway S6 that bypasses the cities of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia.
- The A1 motorway connects the port and city of Gdańsk with the southern border of the country. As of 2014, some fragments of the A1 motorway are still incomplete.
Gdańsk is the starting point of the EuroVelo 9 cycling route which continues southward through Poland, then into the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia before ending at the Adriatic Sea in Pula, Croatia.
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