Piastowski Boulevard in Szczecin

Piastowski Boulevard is the lower part of Nabrzeże Wieleckie, a street running along the Western Oder in Szczecin's Old Town. Before 1945 it was the main riverside street of the Old Town.

The former embankment

The earlier name of the place was Bollwerk; this is how a photograph from 1903 showing today's boulevard is captioned. After the war the embankment was raised by about two metres with rubble, and the street was built in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Sailors' Alley

The boulevard holds the Sailors' Alley, which is meant to show Szczecin's ties to the sea and to document the history of sailing and shipping in West Pomerania. It commemorates seafarers, famous sailing ships, yachts and vessels. The first element of the alley was the boat of Wyszak, a 12th-century Szczecin sailor, merchant and privateer, placed near Długi Bridge in July 2013.

The alley also holds a bronze monument to the ginger cat Umbriaga, 135 cm tall, by Paweł Szatkowski, unveiled on 1 June 2018, between figures of captains Kazimierz Haska and Ludomir Mączka. Umbriaga was a real cat who lived at the marina of the Sailing Section of the Academic Maritime Association in Szczecin.

Access from the street

Since summer 2021 a new pedestrian crossing on the extension of Opłotki Street has linked Nabrzeże Wieleckie with the boulevard.

Practical information

• Location: Old Town, along the Western Oder, near the Ducal Castle.
• What is on site: the Sailors' Alley with monuments and plaques.