Old Town in Szczecin

The Old Town is the oldest part of Szczecin, on the Oder: today an administrative housing estate and at the same time the historic core of the city. Before 1945 it was called the Altstadt. After the war the district lost most of its historic buildings, but its most important structures survived, and in the 1990s the rebuilding of Podzamcze at the foot of the castle began.

What survived the war

The bombing of the 1940s destroyed, according to the Wikipedia entry, from about 80 to almost 90 per cent of the historic district. Among the most valuable surviving structures the entry lists St James' Cathedral Basilica of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Ducal Castle of 1346, the Old Town Hall of the 15th century, rebuilt in the 17th century, and the Loitz House of 1547. Fragments of the fortifications have also survived: the Maiden Tower (called the Seven Cloaks Tower) of the 14th century and the Royal Gate of 1727.

Rebuilding after the war and the change in the character of the district

Rebuilding in the spirit of Warsaw and Gdańsk was not undertaken, because the destroyed buildings were mostly of the 19th century and were not then regarded as valuable. Only a few structures were reconstructed, such as the Old Town Hall. In the 1950s a concept for new development was drawn up, and blocks of flats filled most of the plots, which changed the district from a commercial, service and residential one, connected with the Oder, into an estate of blocks with green courtyards.

Podzamcze and the Hay Market

In the 1980s a competition was announced for the development of Podzamcze, the lower part of the Old Town on the Oder. The project that took second place, by Prof. Stanisław Latour, was carried out. In 1994 the rebuilding began, generally in a modern style, without recreating the appearance of the tenement houses, but keeping the historic street grid and the division into plots. The first tenement house was completed in 1996. Part of its pre-1939 appearance was regained by the Hay Market, which lacks one frontage, occupied by buildings from the period of the Polish People's Republic.

Practical information

• Location: the Stare Miasto estate in Szczecin, on the Oder. The Wikipedia entry lists among its boundaries Kapitańska, Malczewskiego and Matejki streets and Aleja Niepodległości.
• The City Tourist Trail leads past the monuments.
• The district is in the heritage register (entry no. 1 of 1952).