The city's atmosphere is created by its charming nooks and crannies, the entire Main Town of Gdańsk is charming, it is difficult to choose a few of the most interesting streets when almost every corner hides something that catches the eye and attention.
If you are visiting Gdańsk for the first time, then of the most famous places I recommend visiting the five beautiful historic streets of the Main Town, which are on the sightseeing route of all tours.
Put on comfortable shoes, if you like to capture moments, take your camera and go, satisfaction and an interesting adventure guaranteed.
| Long Market Street in Gdansk
Długi Targ is undoubtedly the flagship promenade in Gdańsk, once the Royal Route, now it is an iconic place for walking on the tourist map of the city.
Długi Targ together with Długa Street constitute the most representative part of the Main Town.
It was in this part that the influential and most distinguished representatives of the Gdańsk patricians, mayors, shipowners, and the richest merchants lived.
The oldest preserved houses were built in the Middle Ages, but most of the buildings date from modern times.
The tenement houses on Długa Street are typical Gdańsk houses with narrow facades. Topped with gables or attics and richly decorated with coats of arms, allegorical figures or figures of ancient heroes.
At Długi Targ you will find the most important buildings of the Main Town, the Main Town Hall and Artus Court , Neptune's Fountain , the Golden Tenement House , the Uphagen House and the Bench House , from which the Lady from the Window sometimes looks out during the season.
| Mariacka Street
Once upon a time, it was a small path leading from the church presbytery, which eventually grew into the largest brick basilica in Europe, through the church cemetery to the wetlands on the Motława River. Over time, as the city grew and developed, Mariacka Street also filled in for the better, until it eventually became the most beautiful corner in the city.
Several details specific to this place distinguish this street from others. The porches of picturesque tenement houses are one of them, nowhere else do they appear in such quantity. On Mariacka Street, practically every tenement house has its porch preserved as in the original, which over time became a decorative terrace.
Gargoyles, gargoyles, and spitters that decorate the ends of gutters draining rainwater are another element that distinguishes Mariacka Street from other streets in Gdańsk, although a careful observer will also find similar elements on Piwna or Chlebnicka Streets.
Amber is the hallmark of Mariacka Street; although you will find it throughout the main city, there are no other parts of the city with so many amber artefacts gathered in one row in galleries.
The architecture, inspired by the Gothic style, gives this street a unique, fairy-tale atmosphere.
| Beer Street
As a curved series of roads, the then Piwna Street appears already in documents from the 14th century, at that time it led to the ancient ferry crossing over the Motława River, now it has become one of the most beautiful streets of the Main Town, along which there are many restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs worth recommending on the culinary map of the city.
Initially it functioned as Piekarska Street, then Chlebowa, until it was divided in the 15th century. The lower section was called Chlebowa, today's Chlebnicka , and the upper section Jopejska - from the Jopean beer produced by brewers living on this street, currently Piwna Street.
| Chlebnicka Street
Chlebnicka Street, due to its location in the vicinity of the Royal Route, enjoyed enormous prestige in the Middle Ages. It was a very exclusive street, where distinguished residents, city councilors, merchants, and townspeople built their tenement houses, who were already investing in the construction of residential premises for rent. During the city's heyday, foreign merchants also stored their goods here.
Chlebnicka Street is like an extension of Piwna Street, it starts from the so-called Targ Wąchany , next to St. Mary's Basilica , where currently you can admire the rear façade of the Artus Court , or the two-gable building designed by the most outstanding Gdańsk architect, Antoni van ObberGhan.
The building is currently home to the Gdańsk Society of Friends of Art . Another noteworthy building is a tenement house with an interesting portal, which currently houses a rather interesting venue , "U Szkota "
On Chlebnicka Street, you will also find the magnificent "English House" built by Hans Kremer as a gift for the Westphalian merchant Durk Lili. The house's design assumed doubling its size, and as a result, there is one tenement house on two plots, distinguished by the fact that instead of the typical three windows on the façade, it has six windows grouped two by two.
Chlebnicka Street is crowned by the Chlebnicka Gate, which existed already in 1378, leading to the Motława River. On its façade from the Motława side there is the coat of arms of Gdańsk from the Teutonic times - without the golden crown, which was added by King Casimir IV Jagiellon, while from Chlebnicka Street the gate is decorated with lilies, which were once the seal of the princes of Gdańsk.
| Holy Spirit Street
The creator of the astronomical clock, Hans Duringer, had his home here, as did the graphic artist Daniel Chodowiecki. The great sculptor of the European Baroque, Andrzej Schluter, created his first works here. Today, this place still enjoys the fame of a street of artists.
It is no coincidence that during the annual Dominican Fair, it is here on Święty Ducha Street that the stalls of handicraft artists, sculptors, artists and graphic artists are set up. To this day, this street enjoys exceptional fame among tourists and residents.
Holy Spirit Street was terminated by gates at both ends.
The upper gate, called the Bell Founder's Gate, closed the streets from the Targ Drzewny side, while the lower one separated the street from the port on the Motława River. Both gates were closed for safety reasons even at the beginning of the 19th century, and the hours of their opening and closing were announced by a bell located on the Prison Tower. In 1806, the Bell Founder's Gate was dismantled, leaving only a break in the wall, while the lower gate did not survive World War II.
In the area of the former Bread Market, where once every Saturday you could buy baked goods that did not pass quality control, there is a unique building. It is the Royal Chapel , built on the site of demolished church tenement houses, and was intended to serve as a place of prayer for Gdańsk Catholics.
The tenement houses located on plot no. 43 are one of the most beautiful houses on this street. The Renaissance facade topped with the statue of Athena catches the eye of every passer-by.
The corner house at 107 Św. Ducha Street was once owned by the famous Gdańsk builder Hans Strakowski. He was the creator of, among others, the Lowland Gate and the Żuławy Gate.
Right next to the house of the famous artist there are two of the most outstanding buildings on this picturesque street: the Sailors' House (No. 109) with a beautiful portal, which belonged to the Skippers' Guild, and the "Pod Żółwiem" tenement house.
The fountain was situated in the place where centuries ago there stood a well, about which a story was preserved in "Der Stadt Danzig Historische Beschreibung" by R. Curicke, published in Amsterdam in 1687, quote: "At ul. Św. Ducha, on the corner of Grobla, there is a well, on top of which there are figures cut out of sheet metal and hugged together in the shape of a cross, each of which looks towards one quarter, and a banner sticks out from the middle. They mark the four quarters, because the well stands in their very center and is called the Well of the Four Quarters."
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