Granary Island

1. Granary Island

2. Zbigniew Herbert’s High Schoolnumber XX in Gdańsk A presentation by: Oliwia Szczepańska Maciej Okrój Maciej Kreft Przemysław Nowak Under the supervision of Aleksandra Rachoń, our English teacher

3. Of the historic Granary Island, surrounded by the pool of Motlawa and the New Motlawa channel a beautiful name and a few lonely ruins are left. The only granary spared by the war is Blue Lion, also known as Wisloujscie, miraculously preserved near 53 Chmielna Street. The interior impresses with its original seventeenth-century wooden structure with seven storage levels. In the future the granary will attract all lovers of the history of Gdańsk. Its current owner, the Archaeological Museum in Gdansk, is planning a permanent exhibition of archaeological troves, which appear every year.

4. These authentic granaries are the headquarters of the Polish Maritime Museum. What vessels visited the port of Gdansk! Cloth, salt, wine, herring, and roots were brought from all around the world. They were exchanged for wood, tar, ash, wax, and above all the grain imported into the Vistula River by rafters.

5. For storage of goods a district was isolated in the fourteenth century - later the island on which stood the granaries. In 1643r. there were 315 of them – they could accommodate 1 million tons of grain. Instead of a number each of them had a name, such as Fiery Cart, Red Mouse, Bear Dance. On the island it was banned to make fire, burn tar or smoke tobacco. At night the gates were closed (until 1863.) and dogs let out. The war brought destruction to 120 granaries of the seventeenth century, the surviving traces of preserved wooden structures and chutes. Near Chmielna Street 13 granaries were rebuilt including the south side of Stagiewna Street. The most valuable preserved in ruins are the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque storehouses Far Way, Will Head, Skull, White Charger, Red Lion, Prince, Hungarian, Turk, Corner and Stone Bear, The Forge, Noah's Ark and Red Rooster.

7. The main reason for delay in the reconstruction of the Granary of the island is the lack of ideas that would combine everything in a sensible whole. Such an intriguing concept could be an Island of Tradition. The idea was first implemented in downtown Brunswick. During reconstruction, five islands of tradition were created with the reconstructed buildings. There it is hard to imagine that there was once a war. But it is not an open-air museum - trade and life thrive there.

8. „There are three coastal regions I liked best in Europe - Golden Corner, Triest Bay, and Gdansk Bay” (Aleksander von Humboldt, an explorer)