Dziedzictwo kulturowe Gdańska. Zespół śródmiejski a miejska polityka historyczna
The cultural heritage of Gdańsk. The urban complex of downtown Gdańsk and municipal historical policy

Summary/Abstract: The current municipal historical policy of Gdańsk focuses on the realization of two crucial museum undertakings purported to be a unique materialization of the city’s cultural heritage. Their underlying narration, which is told from the European perspective, bases on two great events of the 20th century and seems to disregard the cultural heritage encoded in the urban structure of downtown Gdańsk. But it is precisely this specific urban structure that exerts the strongest influence on the local identity of Gdańsk citizens and the quality of their life. So far the discourse on architecture in Gdańsk has been shaped by the dualistic debate between “tradition” and “modernity” founded on the division into pre-war and post-war accomplishments. This relation does not take full advantage of the possible ways of reading the cultural heritage of Gdańsk and should be replaced by at least three narrations: the historic city, Prussian Danzig and Polish Gdańsk. Only a properly deciphered cultural heritage of the urban complex of downtown Gdańsk can serve as a foundation for outlining a new and more mature municipal and spatial policy of Gdańsk.

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