Gdansk [antikvár]

Gdansk is a thousand years old port on the Baltic coast. Numerous splendid historic buildings are the best witnesses to the links of Gdansk with Poland. The city owed its development and wealth to maritime trade. Gdansk, situated at the mouth of Poland's principal river - the Vistula - was for centuries the country's most important harbour. Now, Gdansk is one of three major Polish ports. With neighbouring Gdynia, and three smaller towns - Sopot, Pruszcz and Rumia - it forms a port and úrban complex of somé 650,000 inhabitants. Nearly 20 millión tons of goods are handled annually in Gdansk. This complex is alsó a great industrial centre concentrating somé 75 per cent of Polish shipbuilding production. A centre of science of national and in somé branches even international importance has grown up there, with numerous scientific institutions and eight high schools - including two maritime schools. The beautiful situation of the city, the sandy beaches, the splendid architectural monuments, ample entertainments, the sea excursions and the picturesque landscape draw a millión and a half tourists to Gdansk every year. It was in Gdansk that on the first of September, 1939, a broadside from the Germán battleship „Schleswig-Holstein" was fired at the Polish military depót at Westerplatte. In its fina! stage in 1945, the war destroyed Gdansk. Almost all the historic burghers' houses and the most valuable buildings were burnt down. The city centre was ruined in more than 90 per cent. There was appaling devastation in harbour, in industry and in transport facilities. Poland received back a demolished and depopulated city. The situation in Gdansk was further aggravated by the blowing-up of the drainage installations and the flooding of 72,000 hectares of land in Zulawy - the agricultural hinterland of Gdansk. Twenty five years have now passed since reconstruction work started. They were difficult years for the entire country - a period of post-war reconstruction and development of basic branches of Polish economy. This should be born in mind when looking at the pictures in this album - pictures of a rebuilt and extended city, more beautiful than ever. They show the city faithfully as it is today, with all its charm, but there are facts they cannot teli.