Marshal Józef Piłsudski Boulevard (Włocławek)

Marshal Jozef Piłsudski Boulevard

The Marshal Józef Piłsudski Boulevard in Włocławek is a road on the left bank of the Vistula with a promenade , the river Zgłowiączka crossed. Previous names are: Nadbrzeżna Street (19th century), Bulwarowa Street (19th century to 1945) and the Boulevard of the Polish United Workers' Party (1945 to 1989). In the 19th century the boulevard was colloquially called Bulwark (bulwark).

The Włocławek City Days, the Vistula Festival and sports and art boulevards (in summer) as well as other concerts and events take place here.

There is space for various leisure activities, a parking lot and 13 green viewing terraces. On one of these terraces, across from the Church of St. John the Baptist, there is, among other things, the paving-stone coat of arms of the city as well as other patterns such as the fish as a symbol of Christianity. There is also a stage with seats on the promenade. The boulevard is part of the Vistula Cycle Route.

history

1840-1914

Baptism of the ship "Włocławek" in the drawing by Wojciech Gerson

The road was planned in 1840. At that time it was called Nadbrzeżna Street and stretched from Gdańska Street (Danziger Street) to Koniec Street (End Street), which no longer exists, near today's Bechi Street. At first it was an undeveloped sandy path that was often flooded by the Vistula.

In the years from 1844 to 1846 the street was built on and paved. The buildings at that time consisted of granaries and fishermen's houses. The work made it easier to access the harbor coast and wooden railings were installed between the road and the Vistula. After the slaughter of the cattle in a slaughterhouse on nearby Towarowa Street, the skins were hung from these barriers to dry them. In winter, when the Vistula was covered with ice, the fresh blood attracted wolves who lived in the Szpetal forests. The road was considered very dangerous at the time. Blood and waste from the slaughterhouse flowed through the canals in front of the slaughterhouse, from where they poured into the Vistula with rain.

In 1853 the steamship Włocławek was christened on the boulevard.

People suspected of participating in the January uprising were held in a granary on the corner of Boulevard and Browarna Street . In another granary on the corner of Rybacka Street, recruits who were first drafted after the 1865 uprising were arrested and persecuted.

The floating bridge built in 1865 connected the inner city of Włocławek with Szpetal Dolny (today: Zawiśle). This made the boulevard busier. It became a place for walking and many people were fishing there. Numerous barges and rafts anchored on the boulevard . The passage over the Vistula also gave the road strategic importance.

In the 19th century, the wooden railings were replaced by metal railings.

In 1887 a rowing club was founded in Włocławek. As a result, regattas were held in the Vistula on the boulevard . The first seat of the Włocławek Rowing Club was at 7 Bulwarowa Street.

In the second half of the 19th century, Izabela Zbiegniewska lived in Ciechowicz's house on Bulwarowa Street, where she also gave private lessons.

In 1910 a shipyard opened at 19 Boulevard. Three ships were built there: Wilanó, Kolos and Hetman.

1914-1918

During the German occupation of the city during the First World War , the commandant's office of the Imperial Navy and the construction department were located on the boulevard .

In 1914 the retreating Russians set the floating bridge on fire. In 1915 the new German city government rebuilt it.

In November 1918 there was a battle in Włocławek between the German army and the newly formed troop of the Polish legions . Barges with military equipment moored in the harbor were particularly defended. Two legionaries were killed in this battle. The Germans left the city.

1918-1939

Traces of the bullets from 1920 in the railing on the boulevard

In 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, the floating bridge was burned down by the Polish army to make it difficult for the Bolsheviks to cross the Vistula.

In August 1920 there was a battle between the defending Polish forces on the left bank of the Vistula and the attacking Bolshevik forces on the right bank. Trenches were dug on Bulwarowa Street, from which Polish soldiers shot at the Soviets. Almost 40 people died in the battle, including volunteers. Residential houses on Bulwarowa St. and the Bishop's Palace were destroyed. The Johanneskirche was also damaged. The railing on the boulevard still has traces of bullets fired during this battle.

The floating bridge was rebuilt in 1922. Eventually it was demolished in 1938 after a new steel bridge was built.

In 1930 the Marshal Józef Piłsudski memorial was inaugurated in the middle of the specially built green space on the boulevard. The memorial was demolished by the Nazi occupiers in 1940, while the green area was preserved.

In 1937 there was an official opening of the Edward Śmigły Rydz Bridge. The ribbon was cut by the name giver of the bridge himself.

In the interwar period , the boulevard was a traditional meeting place on the anniversary of the battle of 1920. At that time, delegations from associations, the army, clergy and townspeople gathered here . From 1922 a march was organized from what was then Saski Square (today Plac Wolności) to the boulevard. The troop show took place here and the national anthem was sung. These celebrations were not organized on August 15th, as they are today, but took place on different days between August 12th and 27th in different years.

During the Polish People's Republic , this feast day was no longer celebrated, and after 1989 the main celebration of the miracle on the Vistula takes place here under the monument to the fallen Vistula defenders.

1945 – today (2020)

Decorative street hydrant on Piłsudski Boulevard in Włocławek

During the time of the Polish People's Republic , the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) was chosen to give the boulevard its name. On December 14, 1978, a ceremonial unveiling of the monument for workers took place on the site of the former Piłsudski monument. From 1979 the memorial became the place from which the May parades in Włocławek start to this day. As part of the decommunization in 1989, the monument was supposed to be demolished, which was not realized.

In the 1980s, the port in Włocławek was closed, which led to a decrease in traffic along the boulevard.

In the years from 2010 to 2011, the boulevard was modernized. In 2013 the floating stage was set up on the Vistula along with chairs for spectators.

In 2013, two Zgłowiączka river banks were connected by a jetty, and the following year the Jerzy Bojańczyk Water Port was opened.

Buildings

Today's buildings

Episcopal Palace seen from the promenade

Along Marshal Józef Piłsudski Boulevard are many historic tenement houses and other buildings that are important to the city's history and culture. These are (in order from lowest to highest house number):

Maria Skłodowska-Curie Comprehensive Chemical School , 4 boulevard at the corner of Ogniowa Street.
The technical comprehensive school (built in 1924), registered on Ogniowa Street, but the sports field is on the boulevard.
Maria-Konopnicka-Gymnasium No. 3 (building from the years 1926–1930), Bechi-Straße 1, registered on the boulevard.
The former villa of Felix Steinhagen (built 1923–1925), currently the seat of the Marshal's Office of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Bechi-Straße 2, registered on the boulevard.
The monument to the workers, unveiled in 1978, on the green area on the boulevard.
A historic residential building, currently the seat of the Labor Office in Toruń, branch in Włocławek, on 5b boulevard, built in 1950.

Maria Skłodowska Curie Bank in front of the Comprehensive Chemical School, 2019

A granary built in 1848, today the seat of the Ethnographic Branch of the Kuyavian-Dobrin Regional Museum, 6 Boulevard, corner of Towarowa and Szpichlerna Streets.
A granary built in 1842, now a warehouse of the Kuyavian-Dobrin Regional Museum, 9 Boulevard at the corner of 8 Szpichlerna and Rybacka Street.
A historic house from 1910, on the corner of Browarna 2 and Boulevard.
A historic residential building, built in 1937, at 15 Boulevard.
A historic residential building, built in 1938, at 16 Boulevard.
A historic residential building, built in the early 20th century, Boulevard 17.
A former granary, now a residential building, built around 1900, 18 Boulevard at the corner of Jan-Straße 1.
The Church of St. John the Baptist, built in the 16th century.
A house built in 1842, which is planned for registration in the monument register, Maślana Street 2, registered on the boulevard.
A house from 1881, burned down in 1996 and rebuilt in 1998, the monument is planned to be entered in the register at 22 avenue at the corner of 1 Wiślana street.

Water port at the mouth of the Zgłowiączka and the Vistula

A historic house from 1902, once the seat of the Honorary Blood Donor Association of the Polish Red Cross and the Association for the Support of Children with Diabetes, at 24 Boulevard.
Residential houses built in 1842, which are planned for entry in the monument register, 25 and 27 avenues.
A historic residential building, built in 1938, at 24 Boulevard at the corner of 1 Gdańska Street.
The Bishop's Palace - the former castle, which was built in the 14th century and rebuilt several times, is located at the end of the boulevard with its address on Gdańska Street.
The Jerzy Bojańczyk Water Port opened in 2014. It is located on Piwna Street, but is connected to the boulevard by a specially built walkway.

Mural depicting Pope John Paul II

The Edward Śmigły Rydz Bridge also rises above the boulevard. Near the bridge there is a monument that commemorates the place where in the Middle Ages the border between the Civitas Cathedralis (cathedral city), an area that belonged directly to the Leslau bishops, and Civitas theutonicalis , an area where the merchants settled down.

Structures not preserved

In the 19th century there were remains of the 13th century Stanislaus Cathedral on the boulevard, where there was also a cemetery. The cathedral was located in the place where the buildings are today on Boulevard 27 (corner of Bednarska Street 2) and Boulevard 28 (corner of Gdańska Street 1). In 1902, during the construction of a tenement house that has survived to this day, a stone crypt was discovered that was a relic of the church, as well as the remains of the graves in the church cemetery. Additional graves were discovered in the 1990s at the point where the tenement house adjoins the building on 27 Boulevard at the corner of 2 Bednarska Street. In 2011, during the building renovation at 3 Gdańska Street, more graves from the former cemetery were discovered.

Among the original buildings next to the granaries were fishermen's houses, which have also not been preserved.

At the end of the 19th century, the first port of the rowing club in Włocławek was built on the boulevard on the Vistula, which is no longer preserved today.

View of the Edward Śmigły Rydz Bridge

In 1930, the Marshal Józef Piłsudski memorial was unveiled in the park on the boulevard, which was demolished in 1940 during the Nazi occupation.

On the Vistula near Gdańska Street, the remains of the former floating bridge, which was demolished in 1938, can still be seen.

Bolesław Sztejner's photo of the boat harbor on the Vistula that has not been preserved

In 2017, two historic residential buildings on Boulevard 12 (built in 1930) and on Boulevard 13 at the corner of Browarna Street 1 (built in 1938) were demolished.

gallery

View of the Edward Śmigły Rydz Bridge and the footbridge over Zgłowiączka
View from the other side of the Vistula
The granary built in 1842, now a warehouse of the Kujawien-Dobrin Regional Museum
Jerzy Bojańczyk Water Harbor
Maria Skłodowska Curie Bank in Włocławek
The audience uses the benches during a concert on the swimming stage
A theatrical performance at the art boulevard event
Water port on the Vistula
Marshal Józef Piłsudski Boulevard in Włocławek
View of the boulevard and Zawiśle
Marshal Jozef Piłsudski Boulevard at night
Place at Jerzy Bojańczyk Water Harbor in Włocławek
May event on the boulevard
Replica of a raft at the Vistula Festival in Włocławek.
Children's games on the “Boulevard of Art and Sport”, 2017.
Stands at the “Boulevard of Art and Sports” 2017 in Włocławek
Vistula Festival in Włocławek, 2017
Mrozu's concert during the May event on the boulevard in Włocławek
May event on the boulevard in Włocławek