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POLAND : Gdansk -
Sightseeing
The city boasts many fine Hanseatic league
buildings. The St Mary's Church (Marienkirche/Bazylika Mariacka), a
municipal church built in Gdansk in the 15th century, is one of the
largest brick churches in the
world
On the Motlawa river the museum ship
SS Soldek is anchored.
Gdansk is the starting point of the
EuroVelo 9 cycle route which continues southward through Poland,
then onto the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia before it
finally ends on the Adriatic Sea at Pula in
Croatia.
Lying right outside the Roads to
Freedom exhibition the monument of the fallen shipyard workers was
unveiled in 1980 to commemorate the events of 1970 when 44 people
died during street riotsprotesting against the communist regime.
The crosses symbolise the three workers who were killed outside the
shipyard gates, while the anchors represent faith and
hope.
The erection of the monument was one
of the key demands during the 1980 strikes, and the monumentis
marked by a poignant inscription by Czeslaw Milosz: 'You who have
harmed simple man, mocking him with your laughter, you kill him,
someone else will be born, and your deeds and words will be written
down'.
Surrounding the monument are several
memorials andplaques and dedicated to victims of
thetotalitarianism. King Jan Sobieski III statue. A large bronze
statue built in 1897 in memory of the Polish king who reigned in
the 17th century and famously defeated the Turks at the gates of
Vienna; thereby saving Europe from the Ottoman hordes. Originally
displayed in Lviv, the monument was movedto Warsaw in 1950 before
finally being shifted to Gdansk in 1965. During martial law the
monument became the starting point for several demonstrations and
marches.
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