Churches and monasteries
a Gothic brick basilica with a tower over 80 m high, a Historic Monument together with the town walls
Historic sites
a medieval brick gate over the Mill Canal with two octagonal towers, a Historic Monument
Churches and monasteries
a late Gothic Hospitaller church with a 99 m tower and the Jan Maria bell of 1464
Historic sites
a medieval town gate with a 13th-century stone base and a brick superstructure of 1439
Historic sites
a 15th-century brick tower with a white cone and a legend of the town's defence by women
Historic sites
a 31 m brick tower from the middle of the 15th century, also known as the Ice Tower, with crenellation and a cone
Historic sites
a medieval town gate with a Renaissance upper part, today a municipal art gallery
Historic sites
a 34-metre Gothic tower of the 14th century with three viewing terraces, open in summer
Historic sites
a cross of 1542 carved from a single block of limestone, 3.77 metres high
Historic sites
a Gothic town hall of the late 14th century, rebuilt after 1945, with a clock and a midday bugle call
Historic sites
interwar boulder with a grid of meridians and parallels, set 200 m from the actual meridian
Churches and monasteries
neo-Gothic church of 1874-1877 with a tower 50 metres high, on the site of a hospital church of 1364
Historic sites
brick water tower of 1897, 65 m high, with a green helmet, in Bolesław the Brave Park
Museums
museum of the archaeology and history of Stargard in the guardhouse on the Market Square and in the Basteja by the walls
Historic sites
Gothic armoury from around 1500, rebuilt after the wars and occupied today by an archive
Historic sites
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Gothic red brick Orthodox church of 1889-1890, a former Reformed church
Historic sites
a marksmen's guild house from 1861 in Panorama Park, a former concert hall, today a venue for balls
Historic sites
Baroque guardhouse with arcaded porticoes by the town hall, rebuilt after 1945
Churches and monasteries
the largest post-war church in Stargard, with an upper and a lower church and stained glass
Historic sites
brick granary of 1685 on the Młynówka, rebuilt after the fire of 1945
Churches and monasteries
a church from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries in Kluczewo
Churches and monasteries
modern Greek Catholic church with an iconostasis of 2020, built at the parishioners' expense
Churches and monasteries
Neo-Gothic brick church from the end of the 19th century, now Polish Catholic, shortened by two bays in 1984
Solo in Stargard means a walk along the town walls and towers, a market square with a museum, Gothic churches and rainy-day museums.
Stargard suits a trip on your own: the Old Town is compact, the monuments stand close together, and most can be admired from outside at any hour and at your own pace. The selection covers dozens of places, from gates and towers to a mill turned into a hotel. Ideas for solo trips across the whole region are gathered in the Solo section, and the town itself is covered by things to do in Stargard.
The best place to begin is the Old Town Market Square (Rynek Staromiejski). The town hall, the guardhouse and a museum stand around it, and the collegiate church rises nearby, so an hour here is enough to get your bearings and pick a direction.
Ratusz w Stargardzie (Stargard Town Hall), a brick Gothic seat of the council dating from the end of the 14th century, was reconstructed between 1948 and 1961 after wartime damage; its address is Rynek Staromiejski 1. It still houses the Town Council, and its clock plays a bugle call at noon. The neighbouring Odwach w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (Guardhouse) is a Baroque guard post from the early 18th century, now used as a museum. From the market it takes a few minutes to reach the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Queen of the World, a Gothic brick basilica whose bulk can be seen from the roads leading into town. In Stargard it is sometimes wrongly called a cathedral. Its construction and the legend of the two towers are described in an article about the Collegiate Church.
If you have a single day, keep it simple: the square, the collegiate church and the surrounding townhouses, then a walk around the walls, and in the afternoon a park or a museum. A ready-made route is in the text a weekend in Stargard.
Together with the collegiate church, Stargard's defensive walls have been a Monument of History since 2010, and walking round them is the most pleasant thing to do on your own: no guide, no ticket, no rush. Four medieval gates and several towers stand along them, each a different shape.
Brama Młyńska w Stargardzie (Mill Gate), on Portowa Street, stands over the bed of the Mill Canal. Two octagonal towers with crenellations gave it a look that once featured on the municipal seals. The story of the gate and the canal is told in an article about the Mill Gate. Brama Pyrzycka w Stargardzie (Pyrzyce Gate) combines a stone lower section from the 1200s with brick storeys added in 1439. Brama Wałowa (Wałowa Gate), 19.4 metres high, guards the north-east corner of the defences; reconstructed after the war, it now serves as an art gallery.
Three neighbouring towers form the town's signature view. Baszta Morze Czerwone (Red Sea Tower), dating from the later 1300s, reaches 34 metres and has three terraces. Baszta Tkaczy (Weavers' Tower), known as well as the Ice Tower, is a little shorter but built on a similar plan. Baszta Białogłówka (Białogłówka Tower) rises above the River Ina and ends in a white cone. The lower, round Baszta Jeńców (Prisoners' Tower) stands in the southern stretch of the walls on Strażnicza Street. The set is completed by the Arsenał w Stargardzie (Arsenal) from around 1500, now an archive, with decorative bands of diamonds on its facade. For a look at the history of medieval merchant towns, read about the Hanseatic League in West Pomerania.
Four places tagged "rainy day" let you spend a cloudy day indoors: two museums, a science centre and a library in a historic townhouse. All lie within the Old Town, so it is easy to walk between them.
The Archaeological and Historical Museum occupies Baroque townhouses and the old guardhouse at numbers 2-4 on the market square, mixing archaeology with local history. Muzeum Basteja (Basteja Museum) is a reconstructed bastion from the 1500s beside the Weavers' Tower; of the three such structures in town, only this one survived whole, and inside is a multimedia story of Stargard. Stargardzkie Centrum Nauki Filary (Stargard Filary Science Centre) at Chrobrego 21 combines three parts, historical, scientific and technological, with more than fifty exhibits. It is also a good place for anyone who prefers touching and testing to reading labels.
For a slower afternoon there is Książnica Stargardzka (Stargard Library), the municipal library in a townhouse known as the Rohleder House at Mieszka I 1, which hosts meetings and exhibitions. The building itself, Dom Rohledera, features a stepped gable of the kind seen in Hanseatic towns.
Stargard has many places of worship from different eras, from Gothic to the 1990s. For a solo traveller this is a good way to get to know the town, because each one tells of a different period and a different community.
Kościół św. Jana w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (St John's Church) is a late Gothic hall church with a 99-metre tower, linked to the former commandery of the Knights of St John, and has the largest medieval bell in West Pomerania. Right beside it, in front of the St John's Gate, stands the neo-Gothic Cerkiew Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła w Stargardzie (Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul), built in 1889-1890 as a Reformed Protestant church and Orthodox since 1953. In Kluczewo stands the Kościół Świętego Krzyża w Stargardzie (Church of the Holy Cross), built of fieldstone and brick, and outside the walls the Kościół Świętego Ducha w Stargardzie (Church of the Holy Spirit) with a 50.2-metre tower and stained glass.
Among newer buildings stands out the Cerkiew św. Jozafata Męczennika w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (Orthodox Church of St Josaphat the Martyr), a Greek Catholic church begun in 2007 and blessed eight years later, with an iconostasis added only in 2020, and the Kościół Miłosierdzia Bożego w Stargardzie (Church of Divine Mercy) in the Zachód estate, the largest new church built in the town after the Second World War. The neo-Gothic Church of the Transfiguration on Nadbrzeżna Street belongs today to the Polish Catholic Church.
Several interesting sites lie outside the fortifications and need a short walk or ride, but they are calmer than the market square. Many sit beside parks, which are described in an article about the parks of Stargard.
In Chrobry Park stands the Wieża ciśnień w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (Water Tower), neo-Romanesque, from 1896-1897 and 65 metres tall, with chequerboard decoration echoing the Red Sea Tower. On the edge of Panorama Park at Ochronna 9 stands the Dom Strzelecki (Shooting House) from 1861, the former home of a marksmen's fraternity. By the Krąpiel canal at Gdańska 5 is the Mały Młyn w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (Small Mill), a red-brick mill of 1894 that ground grain until 1999 and now takes guests as a hotel. The Spichlerz w Stargardzie (Granary) from 1685 by the Młynówka stream houses a restaurant, so it suits a break on the route. In the western part of town stands the neo-Gothic palace in Giżynek.
For curiosities: the Krzyż pokutny w Stargardzie Szczecińskim (Penitential Cross) from 1542, hewn from one limestone block and 3.77 metres tall, is described by Wikipedia as the largest penitential cross in Europe. The Pomnik 15. Południk (15th Meridian Monument) on Szczecińska Street is a stone with a plaque stating that Stargard lies on the fifteenth meridian east.
Yes. The Old Town is compact, and you can see the monuments, gates and towers from outside at any hour, without a group or a booking. You enter the museums and the science centre alone, at your own pace.
Begin on the main square with the town hall and the guardhouse, then the collegiate church, a walk along the walls with the Red Sea, Weavers' and Białogłówka towers and the Pyrzyce Gate. In the afternoon add a museum or a park.
To the Archaeological and Historical Museum, the Basteja Museum, the Stargard Filary Science Centre or the Stargard Library, all within the Old Town.
St John's Church has a 99-metre tower, and the collegiate church rises to about 83 metres. The Church of the Holy Spirit has a tower 50.2 metres high.
The Granary by the Młynówka stream houses a restaurant, and the Small Mill by the Krąpiel canal has been turned into a hotel.
