Zaspa (; ) is one of the quarters of

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, located in the northern part of the city. It is divided into two administrative districts: Zaspa-Młyniec and Zaspa-Rozstaje. Zaspa was founded on a place previously occupied by an airport. The concrete airstrip of the airport was not dismantled, and now forms the axis of the district. Zaspa buildings are mainly high-rise condominiums (between 4 and 12 stories high) erected in the early 1980s and additional thermal isolation in the form of styrofoam sheets was applied in the early 2000s. In the following years the buildings were also painted in pastel colours.

History

As part of the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the Pat ...

it was a private church village of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

in Oliwa, administratively located in the Gdańsk County in the

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, on October 5, 1939, the Germans carried out an execution of 39 Poles, defenders of the Polish Post Office in Gdansk, in the district. There are memorials to the defenders at the site of the execution and at the site of their former mass grave, which was discovered in 1991. The defenders were then officially buried at the cemetery of victims of Nazi Germany in Zaspa in 1992. During the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

times,

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

had an apartment on Zaspa. The pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

visited the district on 12 June 1987 during his third pilgrimage to Poland.

Sights

The Park Zaspa is one of the largest

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

s in Gdańsk, and the large cemetery of victims of Nazi Germany is also located in Zaspa.

Transport

The Gdańsk Zaspa railway station is located in Zaspa.

Religion

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

churches of Saint Casimir and of Divine Providence are located in Zaspa.

Gallery

Gdańsk ulica Nagórskiego 11 (mural NSZ).JPG, Mural to the National Armed Forces Gdańsk ulica Dywizjonu 303 3 (mural).JPG, Mural to the No. 303 Squadron RAF Gdansk Zaspa mural 21.jpg, Gdansk Zaspa mural 12.jpg, Gdansk Zaspa mural 11.jpg, Gdańsk ulica Pilotów 18 (mural).JPG, Gdansk Zaspa mural 20.jpg,

References

External links

Map of Zaspa-Młyniec

Districts of Gdańsk Sites of Nazi war crimes in Poland Sites of World War II massacres of Poles {{Pomeranian-geo-stub