Project description

Project description
project name: Adaptation and furnishing of the Gdańsk
Music and Congress Centre. Phase II
beneficiary: The Frederic Chopin Polish Baltic
Philharmonic in Gdańsk
region: pomorskie
fund: European Regional Development Fund
operational programme: Integrated Regional Operational Programme
project value: 20 008 012.97 zł
EU grant value: 9 000 000.00 zł
punktor projekt realizowany
w latach 2004-2006
Project description
It is the “cultural salon” of Gdańsk and, at the same time, the venue for meetings of the
representatives of science and business. The Gdańsk Music and Congress Centre (GMCC) is
where concerts, vernissages and conferences are held. Because of its attractive architecture
and location, Ołowianka Island has also become the favourite destination for strollers and
sightseers.
It is even difficult to imagine that for one hundred years, starting from 1898, a heat and power
plant operated here that originally fully satisfied Gdańsk’s energy demand. Subsequently, this
area, together with its historical buildings, was taken over by the Polish Baltic Philharmonic
(PBP).
How did the idea to change the nature of this industrial facility arise? Professor Roman Perucki,
the Chief Manager of the Philharmonic, visited the Swedish city of Norrköping, where the
buildings of a former gas plant, situated on an island, housed a philharmonic, restaurants and
even a bank. This is when he thought about Ołowianka Island and the heat and power plant that
was to be liquidated.
This innovative project was under implementation from 1998 to 2005. The adaptation of the
monument of technology into a music and congress centre to a design by Marcin Kozikowski
was completed with the support of EU funds (2005-2006). Nowadays, the brick building delights
its visitors with the decorative neo-Gothic facade ornamented with rosettes, flanks, turrets and
towers. The entrance to the centre is the favourite background against which the inhabitants of
Gdańsk and tourists have their photos taken. Another attraction encouraging visitors to take
walks here is the Stars Promenade with the handprints by David Lynch, Faye Dunaway or
Leszek Możdżer. Cyclical events are also organised here, e.g. “The Gdańsk Piano Autumn”,
“Chopin on the Motława River”, “The Gdańsk Music Festival” and “The Gdańsk Proms”, and
during carnival time, the place is the venue for concerts and balls. On various occasions the
centre was visited by very important people, for example, Vaclav Havel, the 14th Dalai Lama
and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso. Moreover, the
centre houses a professional recording studio.
In the GMCC’s vicinity, there are the renovated granaries (the one owned by GMCC houses the
Royal Hotel, and other ones — the National Maritime Museum). Moored to the island, there is
the Museum-Ship “Sołdek”. All these elements together form an extraordinary panorama that can be admired
from the Rybackie Pobrzeże and Wartka Streets. Although electricity is no longer generated
here, Ołowianka Island has gained new energy thanks to its successful revitalisation.