We started out at the Plac Centralny (Central Place) , named in memory of Ronald Reagan. The place is a big open circle with a green space in the center. The outer part of the circle has mixed commercial and residential spaces. The shops with their arcade shaped windows are on the bottom floor. The apartments are on the next 2 floors. Back in the time of Soviet rule the layout was the same. Shops were downstairs. The higher ups in Nowa Huta lived in the apartments. If you look up you can see balconies. These were for show and did not serve a practical function. The streets off the Plac Centralny are like spokes on a wheel. The areas between the spokes are labeled centrum A, centrum B etc. all the way to centrum E. The earlier lettered centrums have older buildings. Centrum E is the newest section. The Soviets had planned to make all the buildings around the square, but they did not finish. Since the Soviets, more has been built. The buildings have different styles depending on when they were built. The newer buildings are higher. The old buildings have strict restrictions and rules for renovating.
Beyond the Plac Centralny are wide open meadows. This land will not be developed. It seems there are quite a few green spaces in Nowa Huta. That was an important part of the Soviets' architectural plans. Here is a view of the meadow beyond the Plac Centralny.
Nowa Huta was a Soviet plan of a workers' city in an ideal Communist world. They established this city after WWII. It existed until the dissolution of Soviet rule in 1989. This was to be a city without God (bez Boga). God was not to denied in Nowa Huta. There already a few old churches around and the workers wanted more built. We visited the "Mogila Curch" in Nowa Huta. Cistercian monks are associated with this church. The first Cistercians came in 1222 to Cracow. The outside of the church looks like this. Notice the big courtyard in front. Pope John Paul II celebrated mass here in the courtyard several times. His statue is of course there.
Inside the church is a famous side altar with a sculpture of the crucified Christ. It is a popular pilgrimage site during the whole year. Here it is.
Across the street from this church is a small wooden church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew. This church is also run by the Cistercians. It was locked the day we were there. We tried to see if someone would open it for us, but everyone was busy. Here is the outside.
During Soviet rule many Poles in Nowa Huta attended the church "Arka Pana". It is a contemporary design based on an ark. The Poles fought to get it built and then fought to get another smaller church built. The battles vs the Soviets were intense. There is a large wooden cross (replica) at a small church. It represents the struggles of the Poles vs the Soviets in getting churches built. There was a lot of violence associated with a particular wooden cross during Soviet rule. Some Poles were killed in the struggles.
Nowa Huta's layout is such that areas are labeled as "settlements", such as osiedle Urocze (osiedle=settlement). Street names are less important. There are street names but locals don't use them that much. They refer more often to the settlement name. The apartment buildings nearest the Plac Centralny are the oldest buildings in Nowa Huta. You can tell by looking at their construction. They are 3 story apartment complexes. Not very high compared to the newer apt. buildings. My friend said that during Soviet rule there were no kitchens in the apartments. They were thought to be unnecessary as workers ate at work. Also there were no cellars in these dwellings because there was no need for them to have a place to store food. Later when these apartments were remodeled they added kitchens and sometimes cellars. The new, higher apartment buildings are post Soviet architecture. As you get further from the center of town, you start finding single homes. These are newer too.
We went to find the mound called "Wanda". It is isolated and was hard to find at first. It is an old mound. When workers went to deconstruct the mound to see what was inside (looking for bodies as a potential burial site), they found the support system of the mound that included a beam and supporting branches. It was well constructed inside so it would not fall down. The name Wanda comes from a Polish legend about a princess (daughter of Prince Krak, founder of Cracow) who did not want to marry a German picked out for her. So she threw herself off the mound into the river. In fact that was not possible because the river is far from the mound. It makes a good story though. Here are some pictures.
I did not take any pictures from the top since the view was blocked by trees. It is in a wooded area.
After visiting the mound we tried to find the Mogila fort. It was one of the many Austrian forts that surrounded Cracow. This one is in particularly bad condition. A sign says it is a protected site, but really no one is protecting it and taking care of it. The roof is all overgrown with grasses and weeds. Originally the forts were supposed to be covered with dirt on the roof to disguise it. That way if explosives fell on the roof there would be less damage to the building. This fort was extremely hard to find. No signs. We asked locals for directions and even some of them did not know where it was! Here it is in its bad state.
Next we went to the main gate of the steel works. It is not open to individuals to visit. You must have a group and make prior arrangements. I was lucky enough to visit it a long time ago with summer school students. It is still a working factory. It is set off from the main gate. Near the main gate are administrative offices. You are not allowed to take pictures so there are none here. We talked to a guard about the current situation of the steel works. He thinks it will completely shut down in 2-3 years. This is probably because it is old technology. Currently it is owned by people from India. Before that is was Turkey. This was an important place in Poland's history as it was the Soviet's idea to have such a work place. It became more well known in the early 1980s when a spontaneous workers strike happened. This precipitated the fall of Soviet rule.
From here we went back into central Nowa Huta to visit a small museum about the history of Nowa Huta. Of course there was information about the strike in 1981 (in the form of pictures and a movie). In the movie one of the steel workers said the strike spontaneously happened. It was led by one of the workers there. No one seemed to know him very well and the workers thought he may be just trying to provoke them. The strike gained national attention. Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II both visited the workers. The Communists then imposed "martial law". They were trying to clamp down on the Poles. Eventually they lost power. There were interesting photos of Lenin's statue that stood in the middle of Aleja Roz (Roz avenue). They were attempts to destroy it. Once an explosive made a hole in his foot. It was taken down at least once by protesters. The statue was later guarded by policemen. In the museum there was a small replica of the Lenin statue with shoes and a bike next to it. We asked the museum guard what that is all about. Apparently those were "subtle" messages for Lenin to leave.
I read that the statue was bought by a Swede and is located in an amusement park in Sweden. Ok....
We walked by where Lenin's statue stood. Now it is a green space with flowers on Roz Avenue.
Later that evening we walked around and saw a few other sites including the Teatr Ludowy (a theater that puts on classic plays), a tank standing in front of a building, the Ark church and a smaller church with the famous wooden cross symbolizing the fight for freedom to practice religion during Communist rule.
My friend when talking about the age of buildings in Nowa Huta said "these buildings are old" ("stara Nowa Huta"= old Nowa Huta)". These other buildings are newer ("nowa Nowa Huta"=new Nowa Huta). I thought that sounded funny in Polish.
Nowa Huta is not a huge tourist attraction. You have to know what you are looking at or have someone help you out. Besides it is located outside of central Cracow. You have to go there intentionally. It is an integral part of Poland's history and definitely worth checking out
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