The article is from A&B issue 11|23
Kolobrzeg was formerly called Kolberg. A city with history, because strategically located. At the mouth of the sizable Parsęta River - and therefore, as is usual on this shore of the Baltic Sea, an important natural harbor. As the Parsęta is one of the few significant watercourses between the estuaries of the Vistula and Oder, there has long been a fortress guarding the crossing here. Once again, therefore, the influence of the river on the development and attractiveness of the city can be studied here, in this case extended further by the peat bogs and the mud extracted from them, as well as the sources of brine.
Historically, therefore, the entelechy of Kolobrzeg was three main elements: a fortress on the river, a harbor at its mouth and the production of salt obtained from the evaporated brine. This last reason was the most important in the past - for in the Middle Ages such salt production brought enormous profits. The result was simple - a heavily fortified, very wealthy port city already surrounded by walls in the 14th century, with brick and stone buildings inside the fortifications. And this meant the highest level of profitability for the city of Kolberg already 700-800 years ago. However, the production of salt by local methods some three hundred years ago ceased to be profitable - salt from the mines as much cheaper displaced the evaporated one. Fortunately for Kolberg, around the same time the fashion for cures and resorts began. And in this role the city found itself like no other. The brine had new uses: as potable mineral water, a healing solution and an aerosol inhaled within the graduation towers built here at the time.
Enjoy the traffic in the port, it's just a pity that the zealous overproduction of the State Forests is conspicuous on the waterfront
photo: © Author
The local mud has also been highly praised by researchers and balneologists. This - combined with the local microclimate, the coastal air, the aroma of the pine (and not only) forests, and the influence of the unique salt marsh - made Kolberg a unique resort. So unique, in fact, that in 1938 it occupied a secure first place among 125 German spas.
It is worth being aware of the city's position and brand at that time. Kolberg was a true pearl of the Baltic Sea. The city's brand was synonymous with the spa, cosmetics were produced under it, and the fame was so great that crowds of visitors flowed to the city, convinced that Kolberg was the best German resort. In those days - rather well-to-do people.
enjoys the traffic in the port, it's just a pity that on the waterfront is conspicuous by the zealous overproduction of the State Forests
photo: © Author
Also, pre-war Kolberg was a city with a lot of class and serious potential. It is also worth noting the key word in this sentence: "city". Well, on the entire - now Polish - Baltic coast, it is the only coastal city in the full sense of the word between Tricity and Szczecin. Importantly, it is a city devoid of industry and therefore pollution. Just as Bielsko-Biala is a "City in the Mountains," Kolobrzeg turned out to be a "City by the Sea."
And here we come to the clou: not only were the natural conditions ideal, but thanks to the presence of a port, a fortress and a former rich town producing salt after treatment, all the advantages of a normally functioning, year-round city could be found here. And this is simply a unique combination in this part of the world.
It didn't always work out that way, but today Kolobrzeg is an important Welness & SPA center in Europe - it is particularly popular with German residents... and with developers
photo: © Author
That the fate of Kolobrzeg described here is not an idyllic tale was, of course, taken care of by history and the war it brought down. And just as earlier the mighty Kolberg fortress with its batardeau* was not conquered by Napoleonic troops, so during World War II the city did not resist the First Army of the Polish Army. As the defense was fierce, the attackers used the method that had earlier turned Elblag to rubble - massive bombardment and artillery fire, supporting heavy street fighting.
It didn't always work out that way, but today Kolobrzeg is an important Welness & SPA center in Europe - it has a special appeal to German residents... and developers
photo: © Author
Not much of this former Kolobrzeg remains. The smoky pile of rubble has gone under the red-and-white flag. No decision was made, as in Gdansk, to rebuild the Old Town. Nor did the situation in Elblag, where the foundations of hundreds of townhouses were left uncovered in the center of the city, which decades after the war turned into one of the world's most successful retroversions [cf. A&B 05/2021].
The railroad crosses Kolobrzeg into two distinct parts
photo: © Author
In Kolobrzeg, the authorities took a different path. It was decided, for example, to enclose the basilica, which after reconstruction turned out to be a serious architectural dominant, with high blocks of large slabs. The procedure turned out to be effective - today, from most perspectives, the church cannot be seen, but to surround the basilica with blocks of flats like a screen looks rather curios.
Thus, Kolobrzeg first fell victim to the destruction of war, then - to the fantasies of communist administrators. As a workers' resort, it turned into a cluster of buildings belonging to, among others, the Employee Holiday Fund (FWP). Located closer to the sea and beach, the sanatoriums and vacation centers formed a sort of tourist district isolated from the rest of the city by the railroad line leading to the port. On its other side spread the residential part of Kolobrzeg - mostly large-panel buildings, in the former historic center here and there interspersed with contemporary references to the original buildings, unfortunately usually unsuccessful. So most often we will encounter architectural - instead of retroversy - controversy here.
Kolobrzeg is often somewhere in between - eras, fonts, aesthetics....
photo: © Author
At the beginning of the 1990s, it just looked bad. Plaster was flaking off from the FWP buildings, the city was gray and gloomy, although, of course, the presence of the sea and beach reliably improved the mood. Another legacy of the communist era was Kolobrzeg's seaside lifestyle: crowded, crowded and tacky. I remember my first business visit to the city, a memory dominated by a highlander's minicupag with the inscription "Kołobrzeg" bought at the mouth of the Parsęta River, burned with a hot nail.
This is how Poland looked back then, by the way, the Polish sea in summer is still flooded by a wave of trash, which, of course, goes with the times, so this year there were, for example, flocks of white plush geese - such life. But the highland ciupaga with the inscription "Kolobrzeg" has become an outstanding symbol for me. And also an important stimulus, a bit of desperate inspiration, an excuse to think: "what could we do in such a Kolobrzeg if, for a start, we decided that the glass ceiling does not exist?".
here you can see this "City by the Sea", in addition - looking at road investments - soon also finally well connected to the world
photo: © Author
At the same time I was writing a strategy for Sopot. There, too, crowds of tourists of various provenience, stands of trash, noise and a general atmosphere of attack in the style of disco polo kept me awake at night. It was even obvious that we had to defend Sopot as an elegant, classy resort - and this is how the strategy "Naturally - culturally" was created, which was fortunately effective. At the time, Sopot managed to defend itself, just as Zakopane could not. In Kolobrzeg, on the other hand, we had a different initial situation: almost no one here remembered the former stylish Kolberg, we only had this post-work climate, surrounded by blocks of flats, a dilapidated and, in a sense, decayed seaside complex. And it is for this reason that I am particularly proud of the work done at the time. It took a lot of courage to set Kolobrzeg's development direction over twenty years ago, which was defined by the now perhaps banal phrase "Welness & SPA".
Kolobrzeg is often somewhere in between - eras, fonts, aesthetics....
photo: © Author
At the time the trend was just beginning to develop, it was a novelty in Poland. It would seem that targeting the most expensive version of spa tourism, profiling the city's brand as a premium brand, with ambitions to attract tourists from rich Western countries - that such a strategy could be shot through, and the message in relation to the offer - overpromise.
In this close-up, you can see how the blocks can serve as screens....
photo: © Author
But a dozen years have passed. Properly targeted Kolobrzeg has been a stunning success: Kolobrzeg. SPA in the old seaside zone has enriched itself with a whole series of large glass facades, modern, often four- and five-star facilities. A full-fledged exclusive Hurghada has grown up here at times.
The extent of the success of the first strategy was amazing and still amazes today. Kolobrzeg, in terms of the number of nights provided, is sensationally among the top Polish cities.And let's remember that we are talking about a city of less than fifty thousand people.
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