26 July

10.00-16.00

Gdańsk History and Culture Congress Gdańsk Families

The programme includes the launch of the Gedanopedia – an online version of the Gdańsk Encyclopaedia. With Keynote Address by Professor Henryk Samsonowicz.

number of seats limited 

registration: potwierdzenia@fundacjagdanska.pl.
information: www.fundacjagdanska.pl

Wybrzeże Theatre, ul. Św.Ducha 2

12.00

St Dominic’s Fair Opening Ceremony

The traditions of the August festival date back to 1260, when Pope Alexander IV permitted the Gdańsk Dominican Friars to grant 100-day indulgences on their founder’s feast day. Today, St Dominic’s Fair is one of Europe’s largest open-air events which attracts visitors from throughout the world to Gdańsk. The shopping (at over 1000 stalls, where you can buy antiques, works of art, craft and folk art) is accompanied by an extensive programme of art and entertainment events.

St Dominic’s Parade

A colourful theatrical pageant with the municipal authorities and city councillors, led each year by the patron of the merchant brotherhood – the Golden Hermes in the company of stilt-walkers, musicians, clowns and jugglers, announcing to all and sundry the beginning of the great time of shopping, fun and games. In keeping with the tradition, the Mayor of Gdańsk hands the key to the city gates over to the merchants.

Admission free

The World’s Biggest Drum in Concert

One of the highlights of the St Dominic’s Fair Opening Ceremony will be a concert with the world’s largest drum (with a drumhead 10m in diameter), which is also the tallest (1.5m) and heaviest (over 3 tons). Over 100 drummers will simultaneously strike the instrument 754 times, once for each year of the Fair’s continued presence.

Admission free

Long Market (Długi Targ)

Droga Królewska

Long Market (Długi Targ)

14.00-15.00

Naval Battle

Two hundred historical reenactors, three mighty galleons, several dozen cannons of various calibre positioned on the ramparts of Wisłoujście Fortress and on the decks of the men of war. Smoke, the rumble of the artillery fire, the screams of the wounded. The waters surrounding Wisłoujście Fortress will see yet another great naval battle from the Napoleonic era!

Admission free

Wisłoujście Fortress, stands for spectators in Starowiślna St.

15.00-17.30

Guided theme-based tours of Gdańsk

The walking tours are free of charge, with five routes available.

• A walk with Joanna Kruszewska along the Route to Freedom will show you how important Gdańsk has been in Europe’s history. The route will take you from the building of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk, with a story about the Free City of Gdańsk and the defence against the Nazis in September 1939, through the former headquarters of the Polish United Workers’ (Communist) Party, evoking the memories of the tragic events of December 1970 when the regime massacred the workers protesting in front of the building, Hail Hill (Góra Gradowa) where Napoleon famously said that “Gdańsk is the key to everything,” to Solidarity Square and the European Solidarity Centre, the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers and the BHP Hall, symbols of the tumultuous August 1980 and the fight for independence, places where freedom was born, because it all began in Gdańsk...

Meeting point – at the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers (Pomnik Poległych Stoczniowców), Pl. Solidarności 1

• A walk along the Amber Route will be led by Katarzyna Czaykowska. Situated at the crossroads of the historical amber trade routes, Gdańsk is also known as the World Capital of Amber. Amber has always been important to Gdańsk, since antiquity, through the city’s golden age when Gdańsk workshops produced works commissioned by the wealthy bourgeoisie, aristocracy, clergy and the kings of Poland, through contemporary times with Gdańsk as a home to the World Amber Council and the International Amber Association, while its Academy of Fine Art has a dedicated jewellery department which trains future masters of design in this extraordinary gemstone. Amber is the most beautiful memento you can take home from Gdańsk, while the Amber Museum is one of the city’s biggest attractions. The Amber Route will take you through the streets and backstreets of the thousand-year-old Gdańsk, from the Golden Gate (Złota Brama) to the old harbour by the River Motława.

Meeting point – in front of the entrance to the Amber Museum (Muzeum Bursztynu), Coal Market (Targ Węglowy) 26

• A walk In the Footsteps of Famous Gdańskers will be led by Jakub Nowak. A city, first and foremost, is about its people. It is they that determine a city’s unique history, architecture, culture and atmosphere. During this walk along the Old and Main Towns, you will get to know Gdańsk’s most famous personalities who made a mark not only on the history and development of the city, but also on Europe and the world as a whole. You will learn about the inventor of the temperature scale that is still used in the USA today, about one of the world’s most pessimistic philosophers, about a famous astronomer who also happened to be a brewer, about a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and about Poland’s most famous president, the leader of the Solidarity movement and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Agnieszka Syroka will take you down the EuRoB European Route of Brick Gothic. The massive towers of medieval brick churches have always been a signpost leading to Gdańsk. The medieval brick buildings are its calling card. Among the seventeen listed historical landmarks, you can find such jewels of architecture as St Mary’s Church – the largest brick church in Europe, Artus Court: a 14^th century example of secular architecture, which initially was a place for wealthy merchants to congregate and the main centre of the city’s social and commercial life, the Main Town Hall and the Crane – the oldest harbour crane in Europe

Meeting point – in front of the entrance to St Mary’s Church (Bazylika Mariacka), ul. Podkramarska 5

• A walk In Gdańsk’s Kashubian Footsteps, led by Jerzy Nacel, will focus on interesting though little-known places related to presence of the Kashubian minority in Gdańsk: from the Main Railway Station, through Solidarity Square, the Polish Academy of Sciences Gdańsk Library, Madison Shopping Centre (Kashubian Market), the Museum of the Polish Post Office in the Free City of Gdańsk, the Castle (Zamczysko), Wartka Street, the Fish Market (Targ Rybny), Straganiarska Street, Szeroka Street (Statue of Duke Świętopełk the Great), the Long Market (Długi Targ), Powroźnicza and Ogarna Streets, the Timber Market (Targ Drzewny), Kowalska and Korzenna Streets, all the way back to the Main Railway Station.

Meeting point – at the Kindertransport Monument next to the Main Railway Station, ul. Podwale Grodzkie 2

signing up: submit an application with your chosen route at the Gdańsk Tourist Information Centre (Gdańskie Centrum Informacji Turystycznej): tel.+48 58 301 43 55, e-mail: spacery@gdansk4u.pl

The number of participants is limited: one group can have up to 50 participants.

The guides will be waiting at the meeting points with big red umbrellas.

17.00-19.00 

Dance Party at the Coal Market with Dorota Kolak

Let your Hair Down and Rock ‘n’ Roll!

The unforgettable crazy atmosphere of the fifties and sixties

Let’s dance like we did in the old days - out in the open! The waltz, the polonaise, the foxtrot, the jive, the twist, and good old rock ‘n’ roll! Those with two-left-feet can learn the basic dance steps. The dance will be hosted by Dorota Kolak, actress of the Wybrzeże Theatre in Gdańsk.

Admission free  

Coal Market (Targ Węglowy) 

18.00

Gdańsk 1793-1918. The City, Its People and Events in Drawings and Prints exhibition preview – Green Gate (Zielona Brama), Long Market (Długi Targ)

The exhibition is a tour of the city in the 19^th century: its streets, its districts and its suburbs. It shows Gdańsk in transformation towards a modern city. The 380 prints and drawings from the extensive collection of the National Museum and the Polish Academy of Sciences Gdańsk Library were selected from among over 1000 such pieces made in the 19^th century.

The exhibition’s creators want to familiarise the public with this part of Gdańsk’s history by rendering the atmosphere of places which are often long gone today or have changed completely, and by introducing persons and events that have left their mark on the city. Most of the works shown have never been exhibited before.

Admission free 

Green Gate (Zielona Brama), Long Market (Długi Targ)

19.00-1.00

Night of the Arts – with City of Gdańsk cultural institutions

Detailed programme in the Side Events section.

Admission free

All City of Gdańsk cultural institutions

21.00

Open-air concert and fireworks display.

Starring: Kayah

Kayah is more than a charismatic singer-songwriter and producer with an unassailable standing in the Polish music scene. Since 2013, she has also been honorary Gdańsk Amber Ambassador. In Gdańsk, Kayah will sing her greatest hits and songs from her new Transoriental Orchestra album. Kayah’s performance will be supported by Marcin Spenner & Biba.

Admission free 

Coal Market (Targ Węglowy) 

10.00-16.00

The Crown of Old Gdańsk

The contest involves climbing to the top of Gdańsk’s most important vantage points, i.e. the towers of the Main Town Hall (Ratusz Głównego Miasta), the Torture House (Katownia – Amber Museum), St Katherine’s Church, St Mary’s Church, Wisłoujście Fortress, the Naturalists’ Tower (Wieża Domu Przyrodników – Archaeology Museum), the Lighthouse in Nowy Port and Hail Hill (Góra Gradowa). To receive the Conqueror of the Crown of Old Gdańsk decoration, you must individually visit all the vantage points and collect stamps in a special stamp book. You can obtain the stamp books at the vantage point box offices. You can collect your decoration at any of the vantage points.

Admission free 

17.00-20.00  

17.00-24.00  

Północna Street Day

A cultural event that aims to show the charms of one of the few streets that remain from the former fishing village of Gdańsk Brzeźno. The festival will feature several open-air events. Północna Street will host visual artists, musicians and performers at outdoor exhibitions, concerts theatre productions and happenings.

Admission free 

19.00  

Cappella Gedanensis Live in Concert

An extraordinary and electrifying concert conducted by Alina Kowalska-Pińczak and performed by twelve-year-old percussionist Igor Falecki and Cappella Gedanensis. The concert will also feature two talented young violinists: Klaudia Kowacz and Julia Morawska. The programme: classical music hits (Vivaldi, The Four Seasons; Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D-minor; Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Ravel, Bolero) in new arrangements with percussion instruments.

Admission free 

19.00

PC Drama – Theatre of Reading

In this project, young director Waldemar Raźniak will address contemporary drama by focusing on the process whereby the text turns into theatre, words into sounds and images. The theatre stage in Klub Żak will see a merging of different media and theatre languages, the actors and the director will enter into a creative dialogue with the audience. The multimedia reading will be followed by a discussion panel moderated by Prof. Ewa Nawrocka. Moreover, Krik Konga – a Tri-City graffiti and street artist – will render an artistic interpretation of the event on a billboard in front of the club.

Admission free 

19.00-1.00

Night of the Arts at the Library – an Evening with the Word Hunters

The Book – A Work of Art.

Does the book have to be printed on paper? Increasingly common audiobooks and e-books tell us that it doesn’t. A literary text may come in many extraordinary forms. The Night of the Arts in the Library will present the phenomenon of “liberature,” i.e. literature free of any publishing conventions. You will see that a book as a work of art is not only a literary text but also an object that can take on an original artistic form. Join us for an evening Literary Tour of Gdańsk, to experience literature in texts, sounds and images, wandering around town with your tablet or smartphone.

Admission free

19.00-24.00

Photosensitivity – photography workshop

Photosensitivity will be dedicated to thoughts about the role of light and darkness in the art, photography and experimental film of the first half of the 20^th century. Besides a photography workshop, the programme includes a film screening with live music. Workshops for children (8 years old and over) and their parents; film screenings for ages 15 and over.

Admission: PLN 5,- booking: tel. +48 58 306 66 76 ext. 37

Arthur’s Manor (Dworek Artura) – Gdański Archipelag Kultury (Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture), ul. Dworcowa 9

19.00-1.00

The Gdańsk Life. 300 Years of Gdańsk History – tableaux vivant

Historical scenes inspired by the everyday lives of Gdańskers from various eras. The reenactors from Garrison Gdańsk will present tableaux vivant based on documented customs in authentically historical night-time settings; in the courtyard of the Main Town Hall – court debates and trade negotiations in the office of a 17^th century city official; in the courtyard of the Uphagen House – an 18^th century townsman getting dressed and having a meal; in the courtyard of the Amber Museum – military checkpoint from the Napoleonic era.

Admission free 

19.00-1.00

The Secrets of the Kashubian House. Kashubian lessons at Tawerna Mestwin and a tour of the Kashubian House

Welcome to Kashubian language classes. Your teachers will be cultural organiser Roman Drzeżdżon of the Museum of Kashubian and Pomeranian Literature and Music, and Marika Jelińska, Kashubian language teacher. A group of 30 “students” will learn basic Kashubian vocabulary, Kashubian geography and Kashubian customs (e.g. carolling, the beheading of the kite bird symbol, dyngus, snuff-taking), get a short historical overview, learn about the region’s symbols and find out why Gdańsk is considered to be the capital of Kashubia. You can also have a try at playing Kashubian instruments: the burczybas and the devil’s violin. Finally, the participants will get to taste a Kashubian delicacy made by Tawerna Mestwin, winner of the Culinary Heritage certificate. At the Kaszubian House, you can see the Who are the Kashubians exhibition, presenting the history of the Kashubian people from the Middle Ages until today.

Admission free

Hewelianum by Night

An extensive programme of nightly tours of newly opened exhibitions awaits you on Gdańsk’s picturesque Hail Hill (Góra Gradowa)! You will have the opportunity to take an incredible tour of all the continents by going to the Around the World exhibition, travel to a magical dimension of your childhood at Mr Inkstain’s Laboratory, multiply and exponentiate your fun at The Brain-Teaser exhibition, try on virtual uniforms and learn how to shoot a cannon in Fun with History and meet the Ghost of Hail Hill at the Hewelianum without Barriers exhibition.

Admission free, password: 4^th World Gdańsk Reunion

Screenings of films about Gdańsk and art, a reading room and a bookshop 

During the Night of the Arts, you can see video footage from dance productions by Tri-City dance theatres: The Red Grass and Fruu by Teatr Dada von Bzdülöw, MEMO by the Polka Dot. collective, Girls from Hare Hill by Anna Steller and Krzysztof Dziemaszkiewicz, Le pas Jaques by Magda Jędra, The Empty House by Teatr Amareya, Tralfamadoria by Izabela Chlewińska, Beings by Ula Zerek, Vitruvian Man by Anna Steller and Jacek Krawczyk. 

You are also welcome to use the open reading room and to shop in the bookshop, where you can find books about Gdańsk, volumes of poetry by the European Poet of Freedom nominees and other publications about culture, art and urban development. 

Admission free

Exhibition Preview – Andrzej Dudziński

In his individual exhibition Eyeball to Eyeball with the Beast, Andrzej Dudziński shows himself as a versatile and uncompromising artist who plays with conventions, styles and experiments in various techniques. There will be oil paintings, pastels, assemblages, envelopes and works made in the artist’s original techniques. The exhibition will be accompanied by film screenings and an animation workshop led by the artist himself.

Admission free 

Low Town Live concert

As part of its City of Gdańsk Outdoor Gallery project, the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art holds a series of music and art events under the banner of Low Town Live with alternative and avant-garde artists. The performers will include Peter J. Birch (Piotr Jan Brzeziński).

Admission free

Andrzej Dudziński Soiree and Animated Film Screening

The meeting will feature screenings of the documentary Dudi about the artist and the animated film Dłuży się doży [The Doge is Dodging] - a starting point for the artist to discuss the importance of animation in his work.

Admission free

Cinema at the High-Rise Housing Estate – film mini-marathon

Following Music at the High-Rise Housing Estate and Theatre at the High-Rise Housing Estate, this is yet another piece in the puzzle, with its focal point at Klub Plama which has made its home among the blocks of flats in Gdańsk’s Zaspa neighbourhood. We look forward to having you at an open-air screening of films about Gdańsk and Gdańskers. We will meet on the lawns in front of Klub Plama. Come with your friends and…  your blankets.

Admission free

Recommended by Dudziński– open-air screening at Kino Plenerowe - Łaźnia II Art Education Centre, Nowy Port, ul. Strajku Dokerów 5

Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – the first of the screenings to accompany the artist’s exhibition at the Łaźnia Art Education Centre in Nowy Port, Gdańsk. Stanley Kubrick’s classic black comedy seems more current than ever today; it is as fun as it is terrifying.

Admission free 

Theatre Evening with the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre - love scenes from Shakespeare’s plays – 3 performances 

A spectacular production by the Theatre of Movement directed by Ewelina Ciszewska, actress of the Teatr Forma, and Krzysztof Roszko, actor from the H. Tomaszewski Pantomime Theatre in Wrocław. Love scenes from Shakespeare’s plays with elements of dance, pantomime and acrobatics. We will experience how love sweeps one off their feet literally and figuratively as most of the scenes will be performed up in the air.

Number of spaces is limited.

Admission free, based on passes to be collected at the Theatre in the Window  (Teatr w Oknie) ul. Długa 50/51 and at ul. Grobla II 12/14, at the City Culture Institute (Instytut Kultury Miejskiej) in the Long Market (Długi Targ) 39/40, at the Regional and Municipal Public Library (Wojewódzka i Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna) ul. Targ Rakowy 5/6 and at the Library at the Manhattan shopping centre in Wrzeszcz Al. Grunwaldzka 82 

Thriller tango – music and dance performance 

A sensuous spectacle reminiscent of the atmosphere of Paris’s Place Pigalle, Moulin Rouge, or the red light district in Amsterdam. Thriller Tango is a surprisingly peculiar combination of live music with jazz variations on the French musette and the Argentine tango and dance by the Musical Theatre in Gdynia and The Salsa Kings, accompanied by multimedia visuals.

Admission free 

Night Tour of the Monumental Art Gallery in Zaspa

Every summer, Gdańsk invites artists from Poland and abroad to paint their murals during the Monumental Art Festival. Local guides will introduce the best known and most extraordinary of the 45 murals painted here in 1997-2014. It is an amazing opportunity to discover remarkable works of art painted on the gable walls of the high-rise apartment buildings in Zaspa by the light of the moon and by landscape illumination.
Admission free