According to us and many other travelers, Gdańsk is one of the most interesting cities in Poland. There are probably tons of materials on the main attractions and suggestions for sightseeing routes, which is why we will simply focus on a place that you will not find on the first pages of guides, but we liked it very much. Let’s travel to the Zaspa district.
Despite many previous visits to Gdańsk [in my case several times as a tour leader - W.], we never strayed too far from the Main Town area, maybe with the exception of a trip to Oliwa. This time we started not with monuments, but with a seemingly regular neighborhood. The Zaspa district itself made a very good first impression on us. The buildings there were huge, but far apart and surrounded by greenery. Nevertheless, we came here not because of the charms of the 1980s architecture, but to see the murals hidden among the buildings.
Where did the murals in Zaspa come from?
As an introduction, this district, or actually two districts, Zaspa-Młyniec and Zaspa-Rozstaje, was built on the site of a former airport. Today’s street names, for example Pilotów, Startowa, remind of this unusual location. The first murals in Zaspa were painted in 1997, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Gdańsk. The initiative took off for good after 2008, when a certain Piotr Szwabe honored Lech Wałęsa by decorating a wall with his pixelated face. By the way, the choice was not accidental, because the leader of Solidarity lived in that building for some time. Gdańsk was decorated with new murals as part of the Monumental Art festival held here and the intensive activities of the Gdańsk Mural School. As a result, Zaspa is host to as many as 60 large-format works.
Walk along the trail of murals
The dozens of pieces in the Monumental Painting Collection may sound overwhelming. Fortunately, the murals in Zaspa are under the care of the City Culture Institute, which not only organizes regular visits with local guides, but also prepared a great brochure and map (link in practical information at the bottom) for exploring the district on your own. We followed the proposed numbering, so we can confirm that it is very logical. We did not expect to go through the whole thing, but surprisingly we didn’t get bored and actually did the whole route. From one day dedicated to Gdańsk, the murals took us 2.5 hours, which is quite a lot.
Murals in Zaspa - subjective top 10
These works stuck the most in our memory. They’re in chronological order according to the route designated by the Institute of Urban Culture.
Piotr Szwabe - Lech Wałęsa (Pilotów 17f)
As for the murals of Gdańsk, this is probably the most famous one. It is certainly not the most fancy, but it is impressive and makes us realize in an interesting way that certain images are really deeply embedded in our minds.
Zosen Bandido - untitled (Pilots 18E)
This is one of the most colorful works that immediately amazed us with its fairy-tale style. Some might say that it looks like it was made by a pre-schooler, but is that really a bad thing?
Rafał Roskowiński, Jacek Zdybel - untitled (Pilotów 16f)
Among the few murals with airplane motifs referring to Zaspa’s aviation past, we liked this one the most. It may not be original, but we were captivated by its comic book style. The authors were inspired by the painter Tamara Łempickia.
Mazu Prozak - untitled (Pilotów 14a)
Another mural striking with a riot of colors, but in a completely different style, much more dynamic. In the guide, we can read that not only was the work partially improvised by the Brazilian artist, but also the inhabitants of the estate contributed to its creation. To speed up painting, they helped “color in” the fragments at the very bottom.
Gualicho - Eternia (Skarżyńskiego 10a)
Maciej especially liked this one, so let me quote him roughly: It doesn’t look like a mural, but like a large painting. It has nice, expressive colors, and a really nice composition
Piotr Szwabe - Memling. The Last Judgment alive in pixels (Skarżyńskiego 6f)
I really liked the next mural by Piotr Szwabe, but Maciej said that he couldn’t see anything there. It is a fragment of the Memling triptych translated into street art, which is now in the National Museum in Gdańsk. In my opinion, it was a great way to connect, and I actually like when art talks to itself.
Opiemme - Whirlpool and rainbow irradiation (Dywizjonu 303 9d)
This work did not give us a creative interpretation beyond the one suggested in the guide, but it made a big impression on us anyway. Maybe it was because of the ambiguity? Interestingly, the Italian artist used a quote from Szymborska’s poem. How international!
Rafał Roskowiński - Toucans (Bajana 3c)
I really don’t know why toucans were chosen as the motif, but these exotic birds and rainbow curls fit perfectly into the atmosphere of Zaspa in a twisted way. Of course, in our opinion.
Klaus Klinger - The New Future (Bajana 5a)
A building from the 1980s must have inspired someone to refer to socialist realism with their mural. The woman painted by Klinger pushes a shopping cart instead of working on the field she’s standing on. The more we watched this scene, the more sense, so it definitely managed to stimulate our gray cells.
Collective work - Homage to Polish painters (Bajana 9a and 11c)
In this case, it wasn’t the content that interested us the most, but the form. The mural consists of two parts painted on the walls of adjacent buildings. From the appropriate angle, you can see how this diptych connects. As the title indicates, the creators were inspired by the works of Polish painters.
Our impressions
Although we are not any street art connoisseurs, during our travels we like to visit places transformed in such a unique way. We definitely don’t regret choosing Zaspa out of all the interesting attractions in Gdańsk.
Practical information
- On this page you can find a guide and map prepared by the City Culture Institute
- Seeing the Monumental Painting Collection, more or less following the marked route, of course with short stops under each mural, took us almost 2.5h (over 6km in total)
- In July and August, the murals in Zaspa can be seen with a local guide. Details on the same website
- We came to Zaspa by car. Parking was a bit of a challenge, but there will always be an empty spot. You can also get there easily from the city center by public transport