Ulica Bohaterów Monte Cassino

Gdańsk & Pomerania

　　Sopot’s unavoidable spine is 'Heroes of Monte Cassino' Street, an attractive and invariably crowded mall stretching from the railway line to the pier. Many of Sopot’s cafes and places of entertainment line its pedestrianised length, some of which can be found in the unmissable Crooked House. ...

Tightrope Walker Statue

Gdańsk & Pomerania

　　While ambling your way along ul Bohaterów Monte Cassino towards the sea, take a right into ul Bema to see one of the most unusual statues in the Tri-City. An African fisherman carrying a net is suspended above the street on a tightrope, the piece of public art seeming to...

Pier

Gdańsk & Pomerania

　　At the end of Monte Cassino, beyond Plac Zdrojowy, is the famous Molo, Europe’s longest wooden pier, built in 1928 and jutting 515m out into the Bay of Gdańsk. Various attractions along its length come and go with the seasons. The cheeky summer admission charge puts few off. ...

Sopot Museum

Gdańsk & Pomerania

　　At the southern end of the beachfront in a grand old villa, the Sopot Museum showcases 19th-century furniture and fittings, including some enormous, ornately carved wardrobes. Other displays include old sepia photos and maps of German Zoppot and other Baltic resorts. The building, an early-20th-century holiday home of a wealthy...

Opera Leśna

Gdańsk & Pomerania

　　In a wooded hilly area of the town stands the Opera Leśna, an amphitheatre that seats 5000 people and is host to the prestigious August International Sopot Festival, a Eurovision-style song contest and festival famous across Central and Eastern Europe. Check the website for the summer program, which often includes...

Toszek Castle

Upper Silesia

　　This impressive Gothic castle was first mentioned in surviving records in 1222, although some experts believe it's originally from the 12th century. Reaching its apogee in the 15th century, it housed successive Silesian dukes, Habsburg nobles and commercial magnates, before burning down in 1811. Now it houses a culture centre...

Archdiocesan Museum

Upper Silesia

　　Spread over two floors, this museum showcases sacral art from the late 14th century to the present day, including some beautiful Gothic altarpieces. Entry is from Ulica Wita Stwosza 16. ...

Spodek

Upper Silesia

　　Built of reinforced concrete between 1964 and 1971, Spodek – which means 'saucer' – really does look like a UFO has landed just north of central Katowice. Aside from being a venue for indoor sports such as basketball, handball and volleyball, it's played host to rock acts including Deep Purple...

Rynek

Upper Silesia

　　The city's central market square is not lined with historical burghers' houses as you’d find elsewhere in Silesia, but is instead encircled by drab postwar blocks and newer retail developments. It’s a showpiece of the 'early Gierek style' – the term Poles sarcastically give to architecture spawned during the fleeting...

Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park

Upper Silesia

　　This sprawling open-air museum contains scores of traditional wooden buildings spread over 20 hectares, representing architectural styles from Upper Silesia, Zagłębie Dąbrowskie and other regions. It’s situated within Chorzów's even bigger Provincial Park of Culture and Recreation, which also houses a stadium, a zoo, amusement grounds and a planetarium, about...

Cathedral of Christ the King

Upper Silesia

　　With a base measuring 89m by 53m, this is Poland's largest cathedral. Erected between 1927 and 1955, the neoclassical sandstone basilica's progress was understandably delayed by the tumultuous 1940s. Its vast interior is topped with a large dome that rises 59m from the floor, but apart from colourful stained-glass windows...

Museum of Katowice History at Nikiszowiec

Upper Silesia

　　This branch of Katowice's museum, an ethnographic exploration of working-class and industrial life in Upper Silesia, lies in the distinctive suburb of Nikiszowiec, 6km southeast of the city centre. The entire district is a unique estate created for the families of the miners who worked a nearby shaft between 1908...

Silesian Museum

Upper Silesia

　　A symbol of Katowice's transition from a centre of heavy industry to one of culture, the Silesian Museum sits in an ingeniously repurposed coal mine in the city's 'Cultural Zone', north of the Rynek. Spread over four levels sinking to 13m below ground, landmarked by the mine's decommissioned hoist tower,...

House of Copernicus

Toruń

　　While it's not clear if Copernicus was actually born here, this branch of the Regional Museum is dedicated to the famed astronomer's life and works. More engaging than the exhibitions of period furniture and writing is a short audiovisual presentation regarding Copernicus’ time in Toruń, with a model of the...

Gingerbread Museum

Toruń

　　Learn about the history of Toruń gingerbread and create a spicy concoction of your own under the enlightened instruction of a mock-medieval gingerbread master. All of this takes place in a renovated 16th-century gingerbread factory. Tours in English and German at 1pm and 4pm only; best to book in advance...

St Mary's Church

Toruń

　　Toruń’s third great Gothic structure in the Old Town (after the Town Hall and Cathedral) is St Mary’s Church, erected by the Franciscans at the end of the 13th century. Austere and plain from the outside, the highly strung interior has tall, slender, intricate stained-glass windows, painted Gothic vaulting and...

Toruń Gingerbread Museum

Toruń

　　Not to be confused with the commercial Gingerbread Museum across town, this branch of the Toruń Regional Museum is housed in a former gingerbread factory and looks at the 600-year-long history of the city's favourite sweet. You also get the chance to make your own gingerbread using dough prepared to...

Eskens' House

Toruń

　　The impressive Gothic House of the Esken family, set behind the cathedral, was converted into a granary in the 19th century. It contains city history displays on the 1st floor, and a collection of medieval weaponry and archaeological exhibits from the Iron and Bronze Ages on the 2nd floor. Also...

Explorers' Museum

Toruń

　　This is usually the last subdivision of the Regional Museum on visitors’ mental itineraries, which is a shame as it tells an interesting story. It contains artefacts from the amassed collection of seasoned nomad Tony Halik (1921–98), including his battered suitcases, travel documents, souvenirs of his many journeys and a...

Cathedral of SS John the Baptist & John the Evangelist

Toruń

　　Toruń’s mammoth Gothic cathedral was begun around 1260 but only completed at the end of the 15th century. Its massive tower houses Poland’s second-largest historic bell, the Tuba Dei (God’s Trumpet). On the southern side of the tower, facing the Vistula, is a large 15th-century clock; its original face and...

Old Town Hall

Toruń

　　The Old Town Hall dates from the 14th century and hasn’t changed much since, though some Renaissance additions lent an ornamental touch to the sober Gothic structure. Today it houses Gothic art (painting and stained glass), a display of local 17th- and 18th-century crafts and a gallery of Polish paintings...

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

Lublin

　　This former Jesuit church dates from the 16th century and is the largest in Lublin; you can visit any time services are not taking place. The impressive interior is adorned with baroque trompe l'oeil frescoes by Moravian artist Józef Meyer. The treasury (skarbiec) houses precious gold and silverware, a 14th-century...

Former Jewish Orphanage

Lublin

　　A Jewish orphanage was established in this building in the 1860s. On 24 March 1942, the Nazis rounded up over 100 children here, most still in their bedclothes, and took them, along with three adult caregivers who insisted on staying with the terrified children to comfort them, to a sandlot...

New Jewish Cemetery

Lublin

　　The new Jewish Cemetery, founded in 1829, is the resting place of 52,000 Jews who were buried here until 1942. The cemetery was mostly destroyed by the Germans during WWII (who used tombstones in the construction of parts of Majdanek extermination camp). Broken tombstones are piled around the cemetery. Pick...

Dominican Priory

Lublin

　　Originally a Gothic complex founded by King Kazimierz III Wielki in 1342, the Dominican Priory was rebuilt in Renaissance style after it was ravaged by fire in 1575. Two historic highlights inside the church are the Chapel of the Firlej Family (1615), containing family members’ tombstones, and the Tyszkiewicz Chapel...

Lublin Castle

Lublin

　　Lublin’s royal castle dates to the 12th century, though it's been rebuilt many times since; the oldest surviving part is the impressive Romanesque round tower that dominates the courtyard. It was here in 1569 that Poland's union with Lithuania was signed. The castle is home to Lublin Museum and the...

Grodzka Gate

Lublin

　　This gate leads from the castle area into the Old Town and was traditionally referred to as the 'Jewish' gate, since until WWII it also separated the main Jewish quarter from the Old Town. There are excellent displays inside about Jewish life in Lublin presented by Theatr NN. Access is...

Old Jewish Cemetery

Lublin

　　The old Jewish cemetery, established in 1541, has 30-odd readable tombstones, including the oldest Jewish tombstone in Poland in its original location. The graveyard is on a hill between ul Sienna and ul Kalinowszczyzna, about 700m to the east of the bus terminal. It is surrounded by a wall and...

Majdanek

Lublin

　　Majdanek concentration camp, where tens of thousands of people, mainly Jews, were murdered by the Germans during WWII, lies on the outskirts of Lublin – guard towers and barbed-wire fences interrupting the suburban sprawl are a jarring juxtaposition. Allow half a day for the 5km walk around the 270-hectare camp;...

EC1

Łódź

　　The centrepiece of Łódź's plan to redevelop the city centre around Łódź Fabryczna train station, EC1 takes its name from its original incarnation as the city's first heating and power plant (Elektro-Ciepłownia 1). Opened in 1906 and closed down in 2000, the coal-fired power station, cooling tower and ancillary buildings...

Herbst Palace Museum

Łódź

　　Now a branch of the Museum of Art, this building started life in 1875 as a grand villa of the Herbst family. Although the owners fled before WWII, taking all the furnishings and art with them, the interior has been restored and furnished like the original, giving an insight into...

Radegast Station

Łódź

　　Radegast station on the north side of Łódź was the main deportation centre for Jews being sent to the extermination camps at Chełmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The station has been preserved and now holds a memorial to those lost in the Holocaust. Displays detail life in the ghetto and delve into...

Weasels

Łódź

　　A crowd-pleasing gaggle of weasels cavort on the side of a building in this moral by ROA. ...

Narodziny Dnia

Łódź

　　A courtyard brilliantly covered in the fantastical imaginings of Polish artist Wojciech Siudmak – imps, harlequins and brightly coloured birds. ...

Centre for Science & Technology

Łódź

　　Part of the EC1 complex that forms the heart of Łódź's city centre redevelopment plan, this former coal-fired power station (dating from the early 1900s) has been restored and repurposed as an awe-inspiring museum. Here you can explore the dissected heart of the giant furnaces and boilers, and interact with...

City Museum of Łódź

Łódź

　　Adjacent to the Manufaktura mall, this museum is housed in the impressive palace of 19th-century textile baron Izrael Kalmanowicz Poznański. The opulent apartments are a clear indication of the Poznańskis' wealth, bedecked with elaborate dark-wood wall panelling, delicate stained-glass windows and a grand ballroom. Despite taking a back seat to...

Jewish Cemetery

Łódź

　　Łódź's Jewish cemetery was founded in 1892 and today is a haunting destination. The largest Jewish graveyard in Europe, it contains around 68,000 surviving memorials, including the huge, domed Poznanski family mausoleum. The area known as Ghetto Field (Polem Gettowym) is the final resting place for 43,000 victims of the...

Wolsztyn Roundhouse

Poznań

　　This museum, 100km from Poznań in the town of Wolsztyn, exhibits steam locomotives within a working depot and roundhouse. It can be easily reached daily by regular trains from Poznań (17zl, 1½ hours), but each Saturday morning at 10.23am year round (sometimes more frequently in summer) a steam train (17zl,...

Historical Museum of Poznań

Poznań

　　This museum in Poznań's town hall displays an interesting exhibition on the city's history in splendid interiors. The richly ornamented Renaissance Hall on the 1st floor is a real gem, with its original stucco work and paintings from 1555. The 2nd floor contains artefacts from the Prussian/German period, documents illustrating...

Town Hall

Poznań

　　Poznań’s Renaissance town hall, topped with a 61m-high tower, instantly attracts attention. Its graceful form replaced a 13th-century Gothic structure, which burned down in the early 16th century. Every day at noon two metal goats appear through a pair of small doors above the clock and butt their horns together...

Ostrów Tumski

Poznań

　　To the east of the Old Town, over the Warta River, is the island of Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island). You’re walking through deep history here, the place where Poznań was founded, and with it the Polish state. The original 9th-century settlement was gradually transformed into an oval stronghold surrounded by...

Parish Church

Poznań

　　Two blocks south of the Rynek, this church was originally built for the Jesuits by architects from Italy, and completed only after more than 80 years of work (1651–1732). The impressive baroque structure has an ornamented facade, and a lofty interior supported on massive columns which is crammed with monumental...

Poznań Cathedral

Poznań

　　Ostrów Tumski is dominated by this monumental double-towered cathedral. Essentially Gothic with additions from later periods, notably the baroque upper towers, the cathedral was damaged in 1945 and took 11 years to rebuild. Early Polish kings were buried in the crypt – apart from fragments of their tombs, you can...

Porta Posnania Interactive Heritage Centre

Poznań

　　This cutting-edge multimedia museum provides an entertaining and insightful history of the birth of the Polish nation. It tells the tale through Ostrów Tumski's eventful history using imaginatively arranged interactive displays, as well as maps, movies and models. It’s located opposite the island’s eastern shore and is linked to the...

Śródka Mural

Poznań

　　Just east of Ostrów Tumski in the centre of the Śródka district you will find a sensational trompe-l'œil mural by artist Arleta Kolasińska. It covers the entire side of a building to make the wall appear three-dimensional and depicts Śródka in the 1920s, with amusing details like the trumpeter on...