Olowianka

Olowianka – that is, the island swamped today by the waters of the Motlawa River and the Canal na Stępce, like Granary Island was not always an island. It became one in 1576 after the Canal Na Stępce was dug. Before the lead warehouses, which gave the island its name, stood on it, there were, among other things, carpentry workshops, boatbuilding workshops, a small repair yard and, above all, granaries. The oldest were built as early as the beginning of the 15th century. In 1454, Casimir Jagiellon gave the territory of the later island to the city with the recommendation to build here “a good granary for storing our grain.” The three-story Royal Granary in its present form dates from the early 17th century, while others were rebuilt just a few decades ago.

The functional use of the island changed over the years, especially the 19th century brought many changes in the island’s infrastructure and purpose. Once the economic and commercial importance of the granaries and lead warehouses (nota bene once imported by water all the way from the Olkusz area) declined, rowing clubs found a place on the island, and areas for recreation were located here. At the same time a municipal sewage pumping station was built, whose buildings from the 1860s and 1870s with a characteristic chimney have survived to this day.
At the end of the age of steam and electricity, a municipal power plant stood on the Olowianka, which was converted into a thermal power plant after World War II. After its closure, the buildings of the former power plant were handed over to the Baltic Philharmonic. Today, after extensive reconstruction, they form the Music and Convention Center. The western waterfront, which can be admired from the Motlawa River, in its present form was created only a few years ago, as a nearly kilometer-long walking route.
You can get to Olowianka via two bridges spanning the Canal on the Keel or via a drawbridge for pedestrians connecting the banks of the Motlawa River.

Materiały pochodzą z przewodnika "Galarem Po Gdańsku"
Fot.: fotopolska.eu
City of Gdansk
By Galar in Gdańsk, City of Gdansk, Motlawa, Olowianka Island

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