Gdynia Modernist City Centre
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How it came to be
For centuries Gdynia was a small Kashubian fishing village, first mentioned in 1253. After the First World War it returned to Poland in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles, while nearby Gdańsk became a free city under the League of Nations. The Polish government decided in the winter of 1920 to build a major seaport at the village, and construction began in 1921.
Work sped up after the Sejm passed the Gdynia Seaport Construction Act on 23 September 1922, and the harbour opened as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter on 23 April 1923. The town came after the port: it received city rights on 10 February 1926. That same year Adam Kuncewicz and Roman Feliński drew up the layout of the centre, built around an axis of 10 Lutego Street, Kościuszko Square and the Southern Pier that ties the city to the sea.
By 1938 Gdynia was the largest and most modern seaport on the Baltic, and by 1939 its population had passed 120,000. Most of the buildings of 1929-1939 survived the war, which was rare in Poland, and the core came through practically undamaged. The modernist centre, a clear break with historicism, was inscribed in July 2026, the centenary of the city's charter.
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