History of Sopot

Sopot - one of the most beautiful towns of the Baltic seaside began to create its legend as a fashionable resort at the beginning of the 20's of the XIX century. However, it was consolidated only at the turn of the century. In the colorful belle époque, the Sopot spa was a place where international aristocrats, bourgeoisie and artists met, mainly from Poland, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The tradition of an elegant summer resort, dating in reality from the 16th century, has persevered until today. The reason behind it all is the sheer beauty of the place. People are attracted by the landscape of the bay, sandy beaches and the picturesque slope rising towards nearby Orłowo. They are fascinated by the wooden pier, immersed in the water far from the shore and bewitched with the green hills rising above seven valleys. Walking along the shady paths of Sopot you sometimes come across the centers of entertainment and recreation or else you disappear into the realm of greenery and silence.

The wooden buildings, dating from the 19th and early 20th century and quite well preserved, have their own unique value. Quite a number of charming neo-baroque, neo-classicistic and eclectic villas have remained here. There are also numerous grand bourgeois houses decorated with towers, shapely gables, with facades complete with their wooden sun verandahs, so typical for the architecture of holiday resorts. And the lanes of Sopot are so romantic. Scientists - Maria Skłodowska, writers - Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Henryk Sienkiewicz and Stanisław Przybyszewski, Maria Jasnorzewska-Pawlikowska, the poetess, with her sister Magdalena, the poets - Wincenty Pol, Jan Lechoń and Julian Tuwim all were among the visitors here, staying for shorter or longer periods. There was also the famous ethnographer Oskar Kolberg and the great actor Ludwik Solski. Friedrich Lorentz, an outstanding German linguist, researcher of Kashubian dialect stayed here for some time as well. There were also a number of other people who added color and splendor to the life of this seaside resort.

The history of the area which belongs to Sopot dates back to times long past. In this century and in the last one as well archeologists found here several settlements of Proto-Slavonic origin. They are estimated to be from 650-400 B.C. when people of the East - Pomeranian culture lived here. Through the area the ancient trade route known as via regia cut its way, popular especially with the merchants from the south who used to come here for amber and pelts. The old past can also be evidenced by the Slavonic fortified settlement raised in the second half of the 8th century on the seaside slope which was inhabited until the 10th century. The hypothesis has been put forward that after the fortified settlement had been burnt down, its dwellers moved to a place situated further south, which developed into the present day settlement of Sopot in the 12th or 13th century.

The old villages of the area: Stawowie, Świemirowo, Brodwino and also Sopot appear in medieval sources as best own by Pomeranian dukes. The dukes strove for the consolidation of the not-yet-firmly established Christianity, the development of which meant the achievement of a higher level of civilization in the area. They established a network of parishes and cloisters, submitted to the Włocławek bishopric and Gniezno archbishopric. From among the Pomeranian orders, the most important one was the Cistercian abbey in Oliwa, founded by Duke Sambor I in the 1180's.

Later on several other noblemen were its benefactors, including Mściwoj II from the local dynasty, who based his politics on the alliance with the Piasts. On the 5th of March 1283 the Duke bestowed several villages on the cloisters in Oliwa, among others Brodwino and Sopot, given to monks as compensation for the lands near Gniew which were given to the Teutonic Knights. The village of Stawowie belonged to the Cistercians as before but the village of Świemirowo (with Karlikowo estate established here in the 17th century) the monks took over in 1316 from Premonstratensian nuns of Żukowo. From this time until the first partition of Poland, when Prussian King Frederick II deprived Cistercians of their properties, they were also the owners of the land which, at the beginning of the 20th century, was included into the urban area of Sopot, reaching Swelinia Stream in the north.

The medieval settlements mentioned above were situated on the area of today's upper Sopot bordering, as before, on the east with a high shore-line escarpment. Until the 17th century the area below the slope was an unreachable marshland with its first fisherman mentioned in 1604. With time, as the swamps were gradually drained, several fishermen's cottages appeared here, marked on a plan from 1714 in the place of the square leading to the present-day pier.

However, the upper part of the Sopot settlement flourished from the middle of the 16th century as an area of country houses initially belonging to the wealthy patricians of Gdańsk and since the second half of the 18th century also to Pomeranian noblemen and magnates. Since the middle of the 16th century and in the 17th century several granges were established here on the land leased from the Cistercian abbot. On the granges mills were developed, ironworks and powder-magazines and they also housed manors with flower and vegetable gardens. From among these, two manors entered the history of Poland in very special circumstances. The first one was the Gdańsk merchant Reinhold Kólmer's mansion house which no longer exists and was situated at the pond in Karlikowo grange. In the spring of 1660 King Jan Casimir and his wife Ludwika Maria Gonzaga stayed here and observed the peace negotiations in Oliwa which were to finish the devastating wars between Poland and Sweden. The enemy representatives with the leader of the Swedish negotiators Count Magnus de la Gardie stayed at the French mansion for this purpose fortified with a wall and surrounded by a moat filled with water. The remaining members of a very numerous Swedish delegation of 200 people had to find a place in other abodes in Sopot, including farmers' cottages. In 1710 King August II Sas and in 1733 King Stanislaus Leszczyński also stayed at the French mansion. The consequences of the visit of the latter monarch in Gdańsk were truly fatal also for the settlement of Sopot because the Tsar's troops, which supported King August III Sas, burnt down all the buildings, not sparing the fishermen's cottages.

Reconstruction of the destroyed settlement was begun in the middle of the 18th century. It seemed attractive to the Pomeranian noblemen and aristocrats who took the lease of the granges from the impoverished patricians of Gdańsk. In those days the greatest proprietor of the area of Sopot was Count Józef Przebendowski. He alone concentrated about 90% of the grounds including 11 granges and presented them to his wife Bernarda von Kleist whose beautiful abode was the Blue Palace.

From among all the manors built until the end of the 18th century only a few remained. Their contemporary form is different from the original one and sometimes, as in the case of the French mansion, it was built anew. One of the oldest architectural monuments in Sopot is the Spanish mansion owned after the end of the 16th century subsequently by several outstanding families of Gdańsk: Kleefeld, Rogge, Uphagen and Giesebrecht. After the settlement had been burnt down by the Cossacks, the manor was leased by the noble family of the Rexins and then, after it was rebuilt, Count Przebendowski received it in 1756. Another remaining classicistic manor after 1797 belonged to Count Kajetan Sierakowski and his wife Helena, born Dzieduszycka. This house of the great patriot, activist of the 4-year-Seym and then a senator of the Polish Kingdom has become today the seat of the Society of the Friends of Sopot.

The beginning of the 19th century brought about some substantial changes within the properties of the area which after the first partition of Poland in 1772 had been gradually purchased by German owners. The process was started in 1804 when (after the death of Countess Przebendowska) her property was bought by the Gdańsk merchant Carl Christopher Wagner who built his own manor in this area. Then in 1814 another merchant of Gdańsk, Daniel Gotthilf Franzius, bought the Sierakowski estate.

The next stage in the development of the settlement of Sopot were the 20's of the previous century when Jean George Haffner from Colmar, the personal doctor of Napoleon's general Jean Rapp reached Gdańsk with the French army. Haffner became aware not only of the beauty of the seaside, but of its healing advantages as well. Therefore he bought some land here and initiated the transformation of the poor fishermen's village of what is today lower Sopot into a small health resort. The chances of the success of the Haffner's enterprise were certainly enhanced when in 1824 a hard-surface road was built from Gdańsk through Oliwa to Sopot and people could reach the resort more easily. For visitors Haffner built baths in 1823 and a year later - a resort hall. Close to the pier he located changing-rooms for ladies and gentlemen; later on they became the Northern and Southern Baths. Sopot also gives credit of the doctor from French for its first seaside parks, especially the carefully designed park on the southern side.

The new health repair and recreational functions of the lower settlement of Sopot attracted a lot of people and in the middle of the 19th century there were about 150 houses here. Among the people interested in Sopot some were settlers looking for a job in various establishments of the resort. There were also more and more visitors, especially after 1870, when Gdańsk joined its railway network with Warsaw and Koszalin. The pier in Sopot was visited by ships caring passengers from Hel, Gdynia and Orłowo to Jelitkowo, Brzeźno and Gdańsk. Before World War I there were also regular connections by ship between Piława and Krblewiec and between the island of Bornholm and Karlskrona in the south of Sweden.

The next important date in the history of Sopot is 1874 when it became a district centre. Its activities gave rise to various initiatives in the development of the town which made staying in Sopot more attractive from that point on. It all began in 1875 when the pier in Sopot was repaired for the sum of 1500 thalers. Two years later the community bought the whole complex of bathing establishments from the heirs of Ernst Adolf BSttcher, Dr Haffner's stepson. The years 1880-1881 saw the construction of a new resort hall, situated on the pier axis, decorated with huge verandahs and complete with arcaded galleries. It soon became a centre of social life, especially after 1888 when its own orchestra started to play there. In the years 1897-1901 tennis courts were built in the north of the health resort and on the grounds of what previously was the village of Świemirowo a horse-racing course was established, overlooking the bay. Today the grounds are the location of numerous national and international tennis courts as well as the horse-racing competitions and the sports clubs attract many interesting people.

By the' decree of October 8th, 1901, signed by Emperor Wilhelm II, the status of town was conferred on Sopot. This fact inspired the municipality to put forward some new initiatives which would increase the prestige of the new town. First of all the authorities took every opportunity to buy property from its previous owners and in this way in 1904 the town acquired what had been the possession of the family of Count Przebendowski as well as purchasing the grange of Karlikowo in 1910. Unfortunately, due to the lack of resources for extensive repairs, Ludwik Gralath's mansion built here in the place of K51mer's historical manor, was pulled down. Soon the principles of town - planning were introduced to finish the period of chaotic building. The municipality also decided to construct new and representative edifices which would reflect the wealth of the guests and visitors of this then very elegant and fashionable holiday resort.

The majority of those new buildings, today architectural monuments, were designed by Paul Puchmiiller, a town architect. In 1903 he built the Pavillion of Northern Baths, which was replaced by a new construction in 1972. Then in 1907, inspired by Scandinavian architecture, Puchmiiller built a pavillion of Southern Baths, very much different from the previous one. More important, however, are his subsequent realizations as, for example, a modern bathing establishment built in 1903-1904. Here he cooperated with Dunkel, an architect and Fenzloff. a sculptor, who made the original decoration of the two portals and, most probably, the modernistic arrangement of the vestibule interior. Yet another of Puchmuller's works was the town hall, slightly heavy in its form, built in 1910-1911 and extended in 1923. In the years 1910-1912 the architect was also involved in building the third bathing establishment designed by Wagner, a professor of the Gdańsk Technical University and built by KShler. The interiors of this Kurhaus of Sopot were richly decorated and the splendor of its theatre hall drew general admiration. However, the place did not enjoy great fame due to the fact that a casino was opened here in 1920 in order to supply the impoverished municipal treasury after World War I. What remained from the building - some ground floors, a terrace and a pavilion overlooking the pier and the sea, played an important part in the post-war history of Sopot as a place well known in Poland for its exhibitions and modern art festivals, some of which were significant artistic events. Another large edifice in Sopot is the Grand Hotel, completed in 1927 and situated not far from the pier on the edge of the beach, where it has always played an important utilitarian as well as representative role. Sopot's second casino has recently been opened there.

Sopot's fame has also been enhanced by the Forest Opera, which was initiated by Paul Walther-Schaffer, the conductor of the City Theatre Orchestra of Gdansk. Arranged in 1909, modernized and covered by a huge roof in 1964, it no longer presents performances such as the operas Richard Wagner. After the war this outdoor theatre became known as the seat of a lighter muse because that is where International Festivals of Songs take place, attracting many fans to Sopot since 1961.

In the period between the wars the everyday life of Sopot's citizens (numbering more than 30.000 in 1939), was influenced not only by its function as an elegant holiday resort, but also by great political changes. In 1920, on the strength of the Versailles Treaty, Sopot was incorporated within the area of the Free City of Gdańsk. Especially in Nazi times, here, as in all other territories subdued by the Prussian and German authorities, many painful conflicts emerged between the Polish and German populations. They were not solved by the change in the political situation, brought about by the appearance of the Red Army in Sopot on March 23rd 1945.

Polish-German relations have been the object of thorough research by historians of both nations as well as of the analyses of politicians. They have also been considered by writers and publicists, among them the famous Gunter Grass, a citizen of former-day Gdańsk. This sensitive and wise man, who observed life in pre-war Gdańsk, recalls the atmosphere of those years in the most unique way and enables his readers to understand all the complex problems which took place in the area of Gdańsk at that time.