Architecture

The downtown is a unique city centre in Europe, developed completely from its base over the span of the 20 inter-war years. Away from today's centre, some medieval relics survived such as Michael Archangel church in Oksywie and St. Nicolas church in Chylonia. The Renaissance left its traces in the presbytery of St. Mary Sorrowful church in Mały Kack (16th c.). The manor and park in Mały Kack have a baroque and rococo tradition (18th c.) but in mid 19th c. the structure was reshaped following the neo-gothic and eclectic trends. The 17th and18th centuries are represented by the Manor and Park complex in Kolibki, but its spatial structure dates back to 19th century. The stables next to the Manor are examples of neo-gothic style. Also the churches in Chylonia and Wielki Kack are neo-gothic.

However, the majority of the city's historic buildings date back to the years 1920-1939 presenting two dominating conventions: the historic style popular in the 1920s and the Modernism with some edifices which make examples of outstanding architecture on the European scale.

City Centre
Gdynia's heart concentrates around 10 Lutego and Świętojańska Streets, and also Skwer Kościuszki running into the Jana Pawła II Promenade on the Southern Pier cutting 626.5 m into the sea, constructed in 1935 to replace a wooden pier serving the spa guests. At the centre of the pier there is a statue of the Polish author of marine fiction, Joseph Conrad by Zdzisław Koseda and also the Baltic Tourist Information Stand. Across the pier, opposite the ferry terminals, there is the Aquarium and the Faculty of Navigation of the Marine Academy with a marina behind it, named after Gen. Mariusz Zaruski (an outstanding yachtsman, mountain climber, writer and soldier) whose statue is located next to the mooring yachts (also by Z. Koseda). There is yet another statue, one portraying Leonid Teliga (the first Pole ever to singly circle the globe on board "Opty" in 1967-1969).

Kamienna Góra hill - rising 50 metres high over the seashore - a panoramic spot to view the sea, the port and the city, and a posh city district at the same time in the centre of which stands the statue of Henryk Sienkiewicz, the Polish literature Nobel prize winner in the 19th century. In July and August, every Sunday at 4 p.m. Chamber Music Concerts are held in the park.

Monuments to the Victims of December 1970 - located on two city ends commemorate those "who gave their lives for us to be able to live in dignity". One, put up on 17th December 1980, on the 10th anniversary of the massacre of workers going to work, stands in Czechosłowacka Street close to the shipyard. The construction of the other, next to the Municipality Office, was interrupted by Martial Law imposed on 13th December 1981. It was not until 13 years later that the 25 m tall and 23 tons heavy "winged cross" stood in the city centre.

Orłowo
Domek Żeromskiego (Żeromski's House) - located in Orłowo next to the beach and the wooden pier. It was home to the writer Stefan Żeromski. Today it houses the Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Orłowa - Friends of Orłowo Society where they arrange literature meetings and small exhibitions (the house itself is tiny). Nearby is a fishermen's settlement offering fresh and smoked fish.

Manor-Park complex in Kolibki - it used to be a knights' property, in the 17th century in the hands of the Wejher family clan, then the Sobieskis - King Jan III, Queen Marysieńka and later their sons Alexander and Jakub, who in turn sold it to an official, Piotr Przebendowski. In July 1919, it was bought by Witold Kukowski from Walter von Schütze, which came first before the decision included in the Versailles Treaty to draw the border line between Poland and the Free City of Gdańsk in that location, thus making the newly restored Polish State territory bigger by the area of the huge land property. The former manor and the park with very old trees have survived. Nowadays, the ancient stables serve as premises for a riding school.

Willa Lubicz. Walking along the Orłowska Street towards the pier and the Summer Stage of the Gombrowicz Theatre, we pass a charming boarding house - a villa dating back to the 1930s - now very carefully restored with the interiors designed to bring back those times. Even the hotel staff are dressed in style of that era.

Redłowo
Cannons on the moraine hills. In the Kępa Redłowska reserve there are still present three huge 130 mm calibre cannons, part of a permanent artillery battery dating from 1947. Each weighs over 10 tons. They were supposed to guard the entrance to Gdynia port. They were last in use in 1970 during military exercises.

Oksywie
St. Michael Archangel Church in Oksywie is the oldest building in Gdynia. In the12th century, it replaced a pagan temple. The church was reduced to a pile of rubble during the war with Sweden in the 17th century. After its restoration, it served the Catholics until the last days of World War II when the tower was hit by a Soviet cannon ball, fired for fun. Once more the Kashubians had to rebuild their temple. It towers over the Kępa Oksywska and is over 40 m above the water table, surrounded by a cemetery, about which Bernard Chrzanowski wrote: "there is not another one, whose graves would dream in such peace and quiet so high up and so close to the sea". Very many honourable people from Gdynia and Pomerania rest there. It also makes a Pantheon of the Navy: the walls of this historic church are lined with commemorating plates honouring the II World War Polish ships, graves of the outstanding navy commanders and the September 1939 defenders of the Polish Coast, holders of the Virtuti Militari crosses.

Chylonia
St. Nicolas church - Św. Mikołaja Street. The former wooden church has not survived, except the gothic presbytery dating back to mid. 14th century. It was enlarged at the end of the 19th century. It houses a neo-gothic altar.

You can also use bus No. 500 to sightsee the city - the route leads via all the attractive sites in Gdynia (in summer). Start in front of the PKP Main Railway Station.
tel. +48 58 623 33 12, www.zkmgdynia.pl