Gdansk is the city at the centre of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. It is Poland’s principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is also historically the largest city of the Kashubian region. also known as Danzig, its German name, is a city in Poland on the Baltic Sea. It is the capital of Pomerania. Gdansk with nearby Sopot and Gdynia are often referred as Tri-city (pl: Trojmiasto). Gdansk is considered the most beautiful city on Baltic Sea having rich magnificent architecture.
The city lies on the southern edge of Gdansk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdynia and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trojmiasto), with a population of over 800,000. Gdansk itself has a population of 458,053 (2006), making it the largest city in the Pomerania region of Northern Poland.
Gdansk is situated at the mouth of the Motlawa River, connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the nearby Vistula River, whose waterway system waters 60% of the area of Poland and connects Gdansk to the national capital in Warsaw.
This gives the city a unique advantage as the center of Poland’s sea trade. Together with the nearby port of Gdynia, Gdansk is also an important industrial center. Historically an important seaport and shipbuilding center, Gdansk was a member of the Hanseatic League.
The city was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, under the leadership of Gdansk political activist Lech Walesa, played a major role in bringing an end to communist rule across Central Europe. It is also the home and birthplace of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is of Kashubian origin.
Its position on the Baltic has historically made Gdansk one of the most important port cities in Northern Europe, and tragically also the scene of a rather disturbing past.
World War II was ignited by a dispute over the control of the city. By the end of the war the city lay almost completely in ruins. The German population was expelled and replaced by Poles as the city came under Polish rule and changed its name to Gdansk. However, the impact of its former German ties is still evident. Although most of the old buildings were damaged or destroyed in WWII, they have been painstakingly restored or rebuilt.
In modern history, Gdansk is known as the birthplace of Solidarity, the labor and democracy movement that helped to bring down the Communist government in Poland, and subsequently marked the beginning of the end of The cold war. The movement was led by the charismatic leader, Lech Walesa, who became Poland’s first post-Communist president.
The historic old city of Gdansk, which had suffered large-scale destruction at the hands of the Soviet Army, was rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. Boosted by heavy investment in the development of its port and three major shipyards, Gdansk became the major shipping and industrial center of the Communist People’s Republic of Poland.
As part of German-Polish reconciliation policies driven by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik, German territorial claims on Gdansk were renounced, and the city’s full incorporation into Poland was recognized in the Treaty of Warsaw in 1970. This was confirmed by a reunited Germany in 1990 and 1991.
In 1970, Gdansk was the scene of anti-regime demonstrations which led to the downfall of Poland’s communist leader Wladyslaw Gomulka. Ten years later the Gdansk Shipyard was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement, whose opposition to the Communist regime led to the end of Communist Party rule in 1989, and sparked a series of protests that successfully overturned the Communist regimes of the former Soviet bloc. Solidarity’s leader, Lech Wal?sa, a native of Gdansk, became President of Poland in 1990. Gdansk native Donald Tusk became Prime Minister of Poland in 2007.
Today Gdansk is a major shipping port and tourist destination and has been the setting for a number of major open air concerts, including Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Jean Michel Jarre. The Rock band Queen are staging a concert in the Shipyard in October 2008.
Gdansk enjoys a temperate climate, with cold, cloudy, moderately-severe winters and mild summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms. Average temperatures range from -1.0°C to 17.2°C and rainfall varies from 84.0 mm/month to 210.0 mm/month. In general it is a maritime climate and therefore damp, variable and harsh.
The seasons are clearly differentiated. Spring starts in March and is initially cold and windy, later becoming pleasantly warm and often very sunny. Summer, which begins in June, is predominantly warm but hot at times (with temperature reaching as high as 30-35C at least once per year) with plenty of sunshine interspersed with heavy rain.
The average annual hours of sunshine for Gdansk are 1600, similar to other Northern cities. July and August are the hottest months. Autumn comes in September and is at first warm and usually sunny, turning cold, damp and foggy in November. Winter lasts from December to March and includes periods of snow. January and February are the coldest months with the temperature sometimes dropping as low as -15°C.
The city has many fine buildings from the time of the Hanseatic League. Most tourist attractions are located along or near Ulica Dluga (Long Street) and Dlugi Targ (Long Market), a pedestrian thoroughfare surrounded by buildings reconstructed in historical (primarily 17th century) style and flanked at both ends by elaborate city gates. This part of the city is sometimes referred to as the Royal Road as the former path of processions for visiting kings.
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