• 001 - the logo.jpg
  • 002 - Hiroshima sunset.jpg
  • 003 - Auschwitz-Birkenau ramp.jpg
  • 004 - Chernobyl contamination.jpg
  • 005 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 006 - Berlin Wall madness.jpg
  • 007 - Bulgaria - monument at the bottom of Buzludzhy park hill.jpg
  • 008 - Ijen crater.jpg
  • 009 - Aralsk, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 010 - Paris catacombs.jpg
  • 011 - Krakatoa.jpg
  • 012 - Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, Hanoi.jpg
  • 013 - Uyuni.jpg
  • 014 - DMZ Vietnam.jpg
  • 015 - Colditz Kopie.jpg
  • 016 - Glasgow Necropolis.jpg
  • 017 - Hashima ghost island.jpg
  • 018 - Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 019 - Arlington.jpg
  • 020 - Karosta prison.jpg
  • 021 - Kamikaze.jpg
  • 022 - Chacabuco ghost town.jpg
  • 023 - Eagle's Nest, Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden.jpg
  • 024 - Kursk.jpg
  • 025 - Bran castle, Carpathia, Romania.jpg
  • 026 - Bestattungsmuseum Wien.jpg
  • 027 - Pripyat near Chernobyl.jpg
  • 028 - Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 029 - Pyramida Lenin.jpg
  • 030 - Falklands.jpg
  • 031 - Majdanek.jpg
  • 032 - Soufriere volcano, Montserrat.jpg
  • 033 - moai on Easter Island.jpg
  • 034 - Sidoarjo.jpg
  • 035 - Hötensleben.jpg
  • 036 - Natzweiler.jpg
  • 037 - Polygon, Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 038 - Srebrenica.jpg
  • 039 - Liepaja, Latvia.jpg
  • 040 - Vemork hydroelectric power plant building, Norway.jpg
  • 041 - Enola Gay.jpg
  • 042 - Pentagon 9-11 memorial.jpg
  • 043 - Robben Island prison, South Africa.jpg
  • 044 - Tollund man.jpg
  • 045 - Marienthal tunnel.jpg
  • 046 - Aso, Japan.jpg
  • 047 - Labrador battery Singapore.jpg
  • 048 - Artyom island, Absheron, Azerbaijan.jpg
  • 049 - Treblinka.jpg
  • 050 - Titan II silo.jpg
  • 051 - dosemetering doll, Chernobyl.jpg
  • 052 - Holocaust memorial, Berlin.jpg
  • 053 - Komodo dragon.jpg
  • 054 - cemeterio general, Santiago de Chile.jpg
  • 055 - Tuol Sleng, Phnom Phen, Cambodia.jpg
  • 056 - West Virginia penitentiary.jpg
  • 057 - ovens, Dachau.jpg
  • 058 - Derry, Northern Ireland.jpg
  • 059 - Bulgaria - Buzludzha - workers of all countries unite.jpg
  • 060 - Sachsenhausen.jpg
  • 061 - Tiraspol dom sovietov.jpg
  • 062 - modern-day Pompeii - Plymouth, Montserrat.jpg
  • 063 - Pico de Fogo.jpg
  • 064 - Trinity Day.jpg
  • 065 - Zwentendorf control room.jpg
  • 066 - Wolfschanze.jpg
  • 067 - Hiroshima by night.jpg
  • 068 - mass games, North Korea.jpg
  • 069 - Harrisburg.jpg
  • 070 - Nuremberg.jpg
  • 071 - Mostar.jpg
  • 072 - Tu-22, Riga aviation museum.jpg
  • 073 - Gallipoli, Lone Pine.jpg
  • 074 - Auschwitz-Birkenau - fence.jpg
  • 075 - Darvaza flaming gas crater.jpg
  • 076 - Atatürk Mausoleum, Ankara.jpg
  • 077 - Banda Aceh boats.jpg
  • 078 - AMARG.jpg
  • 079 - Chacabuco ruins.jpg
  • 080 - Bucharest.jpg
  • 081 - Bernauer Straße.jpg
  • 082 - Death Railway, Thailand.jpg
  • 083 - Mandor killing fields.jpg
  • 084 - Kozloduy.jpg
  • 085 - Jerusalem.jpg
  • 086 - Latin Bridge, Sarajevo.jpg
  • 087 - Panmunjom, DMZ, Korea.jpg
  • 088 - Ijen blue flames.jpg
  • 089 - Derry reconsilliation monument.jpg
  • 090 - Ebensee.jpg
  • 091 - Mödlareuth barbed wire.jpg
  • 092 - skull heaps in Sedlec ossuary, Czech Republic.jpg
  • 093 - Nikel.jpg
  • 094 - Fukushima-Daiichi NPP.jpg
  • 095 - Tital launch control centre.jpg
  • 096 - Dallas Dealy Plaza and Sixth Floor Museum.jpg
  • 097 - Auschwitz I.jpg
  • 098 - Stalin and Lenin, Tirana, Albania.jpg
  • 099 - Malta, Fort St Elmo.jpg
  • 100 - Peenemünde.jpg
  • 101 - Tarrafal.jpg
  • 102 - Kilmainham prison, Dublin.jpg
  • 103 - North Korea.jpg
  • 104 - Mittelbau-Dora.jpg
  • 105 - St Helena.jpg
  • 106 - Stutthof, Poland.jpg
  • 107 - Merapi destruction.jpg
  • 108 - Chueung Ek killing fields, Cambodia.jpg
  • 109 - Marienborn former GDR border.jpg
  • 110 - Mig and star, Kazakhstan.jpg
  • 111 - Nagasaki WWII tunnels.jpg
  • 112 - Hellfire Pass, Thailand.jpg
  • 113 - Kiev.jpg
  • 114 - Grutas Park, Lithuania.jpg
  • 115 - Zwentendorf reactor core.jpg
  • 116 - two occupations, Tallinn.jpg
  • 117 - Trunyan burial site.jpg
  • 118 - Ushuaia prison.jpg
  • 119 - Buchenwald.jpg
  • 120 - Marienthal with ghost.jpg
  • 121 - Murmansk harbour - with an aircraft carrier.jpg
  • 122 - Berlin Olympiastadion.JPG
  • 123 - Bastille Day, Paris.jpg
  • 124 - Spassk.jpg
  • 125 - Theresienstadt.jpg
  • 126 - B-52s.jpg
  • 127 - Bledug Kuwu.jpg
  • 128 - Friedhof der Namenlosen, Vienna.jpg
  • 129 - Auschwitz-Birkenau barracks.jpg
  • 130 - mummies, Bolivia.jpg
  • 131 - Barringer meteor crater.jpg
  • 132 - Murambi, Rwanda.jpg
  • 133 - NTS.jpg
  • 134 - Mauthausen Soviet monument.jpg
  • 135 - pullution, Kazakhstan.JPG
  • 136 - palm oil madness.jpg
  • 137 - Berlin socialist realism.jpg
  • 138 - Okawa school building ruin.jpg
  • 139 - Pawiak, Warsaw.jpg
  • 140 - flying death, military museum Dresden.JPG
  • 141 - KGB gear.JPG
  • 142 - KZ jacket.JPG
  • 143 - ex-USSR.JPG
  • 144 - Indonesia fruit bats.JPG
  • 145 - Alcatraz.JPG
  • 146 - Chernobyl Museum, Kiev, Ukraine.JPG
  • 147 - Halemaumau lava lake glow, Hawaii.JPG
  • 148 - Rosinenbomber at Tempelhof, Berlin.jpg
  • 149 - Verdun, France.JPG
  • 150 - hospital, Vukovar, Croatia.JPG
  • 151 - the original tomb of Napoleon, St Helena.JPG
  • 152 - Buchenwald, Germany.JPG
  • 153 - Bhopal.JPG
  • 154 - Groß-Rosen, Poland.jpg
  • 155 - at Monino, Russia.jpg
  • 156 - blinking Komodo.jpg
  • 157 - inside Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 158 - Mount St Helens, USA.JPG
  • 159 - Maly Trostenec, Minsk, Belarus.jpg
  • 160 - Vucedol skulls, Croatia.JPG
  • 161 - colourful WW1 shells.JPG
  • 162 - Zeljava airbase in Croatia.JPG
  • 163 - rusting wrecks, Chernobyl.JPG
  • 164 - San Bernadine alle Ossa, Milan, Italy.jpg
  • 165 - USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.JPG
  • 166 - Brest Fortress, Belarus.JPG
  • 167 - thousands of bats, Dom Rep.JPG
  • 168 - Hohenschönhausen, Berlin.JPG
  • 169 - Perm-36 gulag site.JPG
  • 170 - Jasenovac, Croatia.JPG
  • 171 - Beelitz Heilstätten.JPG
  • 172 - Kremlin, Moscow.jpg
  • 173 - old arms factory, Dubnica.JPG
  • 174 - Pervomaisc ICBM base, more  missiles, including an SS-18 Satan.jpg
  • 175 - Cellular Jail, Port Blair.jpg
  • 177 - control room, Chernobyl NPP.JPG
  • 178 - Podgorica, Montenegro, small arms and light weapons sculpture.jpg
  • 179 - Vught.jpg
  • 180 - Japanese cave East Timor.jpg
  • 181 - Ani.jpg
  • 182 - Indonesia wildfire.jpg
  • 183 - Chacabuco big sky.jpg
  • 184 - Bunker Valentin, Germany.JPG
  • 185 - Lest we Forget, Ypres.JPG
  • 186 - the logo again.jpg

Plac Solidarności

  
  - darkometer rating:  2 -
 
Plac Solidarnosci 01   main monument and new Solidarity Centre in the backgroundThe area outside the main gates to the Gdańsk shipyards, famous as the backdrop for crucial parts of the media coverage of the trade union movement Solidarność's struggle for freedom in the 1980s.
The square is dominated by a huge monument erected in 1980 in honour of the victims of the violently crushed strikes and demonstrations in 1970. Those were a precursor to the Solidarność movement in the 1980s that eventually led to the abolition of communism in Poland, the break-up of the entire Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War

>More background info

>What there is to see

>Location

>Access and costs

>Time required

>Combinations with other dark destinations

>Combinations with non-dark destinations

>Photos

 
More background info: The old shipyards of Gdańsk were at the forefront of Poland's organized resistance movement of the 1980s; together with the steelworks in Kraków's Nowa Huta – when both plants, incidentally, were named after Lenin. And they had been the site of resistance and strikes before; especially in 1956 and again in 1970, when the strikes and protests which was brutally crushed by the militia.
 
But from 1980 onward the independent self-governing trade union that was given the name Solidarność became a key player here
 
Through the media coverage of the strikes and demonstrations, the Solidarność logo became known worldwide as a symbol of resistance against communism. And the backdrop to much of the protests' footage was the shipyard's No. 2 Gate at what is today called Plac Solidarności – renamed in honour of those who eventually brought about those massive changes not only in Poland but in the whole of the Eastern Bloc.
 
For more historical background and summaries of these developments see under European Solidarity Centre, Sala BHP and Old Gdańsk Shipyards.
 
 
What there is to see: The main original historical structure of note here is the former Gate No. 2 of the Gdańsk Shipyards, or ‘Stocznia Gdańska’ in Polish, as it still says in large letters above the gate. When the communist authorities named the shipyards after Lenin in 1967 (see Sala BHP) an additional sign saying “im LENINA” was added – but this was taken down as part of the demise of communism in Poland. When in 2012 it was reattached for a film about Solidarność leader Lech Wałęsa for scenes shot at this original site there were even protests against its temporary reappearance and in the process it was sprayed with red paint!
   
Also above the gate is a recreation of the plywood panels on which the strike committee had hand-written the original “21 demands” over which they negotiated with the authorities in August 1980 in the nearby Sala BHP. And when these demands were met by the government this constituted the official founding of Solidarność. The original of these plywood panels are on display inside the European Solidarity Centre (ECS).
  
You can still see various incarnations of the familiar Solidarność logo, as well as images of Pope John Paul II, attached to the gates. When I first came here there was even a souvenir ship inside the gatehouse, but this has disappeared, probably because the shops of the neighbouring ECS and Sala BHP will have taken over this role. That striking rusty-red edifice dominates the backdrop, but on the square itself the main other element is
 the huge towering monument to the victims of the militia's crushing of the 1970 strikes (see above). The monument consists mainly of three tall columns ending in crosses at the top that together form a triangle. From the crosses, anchors are suspended – probably to reflect the shipbuilding-associations of the place.
 
At the bottom, the columns are adorned with plaques – as is a whole memorial wall opposite. Here an eclectic collection of plaques and sculptures honour various personalities and organizations involved in this chapter of Poland's history. Fresh flowers suggest that the site is still in use as an 'active' memorial and well looked-after.
  
There used to be another gate to the shipyards between where the ECS now is and the Hotel Gryf; but that gate has disappeared, probably to make way for the new car park and road into the ex-shipyards beyond.
  
A new touristy element can be found just behind the long memorial wall of Plac Solidarności: a panel with the image of Lech Wałęsa next to a hole into which tourists can stick their face to have their picture taken together with that icon of modern Polish history.
  
The square and its monuments used to be a key visitor attraction in itself for many years, and to a degree it still is, but these days it is dwarfed by the gigantic European Solidarity Centre. But it is still worth exploring the square in its own right too.
 
 
Location: to the north of the historical centre of Gdańsk, about half a mile (800m) from the main train station (Gdańsk Główny), and about a mile (1.4 km) from the Old Town centre and waterfront.
 
Google maps locator: [54.3605,18.6492]
 
 
Access and costs: easy and free.
 
Details: a five-to-ten-minute walk from the station along Podwale Grodzkie and ul. Wały Piastowskie (or one tram stop), and about half an hour on foot from Gdańsk's city centre and waterfront, at the end of ul. Łagiewniki. Access to the site is free at all times.
 
 
Time required: Having a look around hardly takes half an hour. But add on time for getting there, and for visiting the various other sights here.
 
 
Combinations with other dark destinations: For most people, the main reason for coming to this square is to cross it to get to the massive European Solidarity Centre, which is just beyond the historical No. 2 Gate. The smaller exhibition inside the old Sala BHP is also worth a look, and a walk around the old shipyards, now open to the public, is also recommended.
  
For more see under Gdańsk in general.
 
 
Combinations with non-dark destinations: see Gdańsk.
   
 
 
  • Plac Solidarnosci 01 - main monument and new Solidarity Centre in the backgroundPlac Solidarnosci 01 - main monument and new Solidarity Centre in the background
  • Plac Solidarnosci 02 - eastern half of the square - Plac Solidarnosci 02 - eastern half of the square -
  • Plac Solidarnosci 04 - old main gate to the old Gdansk shipyardsPlac Solidarnosci 04 - old main gate to the old Gdansk shipyards
  • Plac Solidarnosci 05 - the historic 21 demands from 1980Plac Solidarnosci 05 - the historic 21 demands from 1980
  • Plac Solidarnosci 07 - sculptures on the main monument ... with pigeonPlac Solidarnosci 07 - sculptures on the main monument ... with pigeon
  • Plac Solidarnosci 08 - protester sculpture ... and another pigeonPlac Solidarnosci 08 - protester sculpture ... and another pigeon
  • Plac Solidarnosci 09 - more sculptures and plaquesPlac Solidarnosci 09 - more sculptures and plaques
  • Plac Solidarnosci 10 - not so much lightPlac Solidarnosci 10 - not so much light
  • Plac Solidarnosci 11 - plightPlac Solidarnosci 11 - plight
  • Plac Solidarnosci 12 - yet more memorial plaquesPlac Solidarnosci 12 - yet more memorial plaques
  • Plac Solidarnosci 13 - you can have your picture taken with Lech WalesaPlac Solidarnosci 13 - you can have your picture taken with Lech Walesa
  • Plac Solidarnosci 14 - model of the squarePlac Solidarnosci 14 - model of the square
  • Plac Solidarnosci 15 - old secondary entrance to the shipyards in 2008, now demolishedPlac Solidarnosci 15 - old secondary entrance to the shipyards in 2008, now demolished

  

  

  

  

© dark-tourism.com, Peter Hohenhaus 2009-2023

Cookies make it easier for us to provide you with our services. With the usage of our services you permit us to use cookies.
More information Ok