The City celebrates its birthday
On 10th February the City of Gdynia and its residents will be celebrating the city’s birthday. 94 years ago, on 10th February 1926, by the decree of the Coucil of Ministers, Gdynia has been granted city status. And that’s when it all began…
In 1920 Gdynia was identified by the engineerTadeusz Wenda, as an ideal spot for port construction, which was indispensable for the rebuilding of the economy. This changed the fate of this small town located on the Baltic coast and led to its economic boom. In 192F1 Gdynia’s population reached 1,268. Five years later, after the granting of city status, the number of city inhabitants reached 12 thousand. And shortly before the outbreak of WWII the population rose to 127 thousand. At present there are 246 thousand people on the Gdynia resident register.
The celebratory events to commemorate the granting of city status will commence on 8th February and continue until 10th February. On Saturday the city authorities invite everyone to the Gdynia Sports Arena. The programme is primarily aimed at senior citizen. Entrance is free of charge, however this is an invitation-only event: the invitations are available from January 28th at the Senior Activity Centre at 27 3 Maja Street. The events planned for that day include the screening of the film by Jacek Dworakowski “Biesiady rodów gdyńskich” [Banquets of Gdynia Families], a band performance by the VOX, as well as a variety of expert health consultations.
The City’s birthday is also celebrated at the Konsulat Kultury [Culture Consulate], which hosts a photographic exhibition entitled “ GDYNIA in photographs by Andrzej Jastrzembski”. The Gdynia City Museum will host a screening of archival films about Gdynia entitled “Dawno temu nad Bałtykiem”[A long time ago, on the Baltic coast] which depict the city’s early years in the 1920s. For the following day, February the 9th, the Museum prepared workshops, meetings with authors and new exhibitions.
The official celebrations with the participation of the city authorities have been planned for 10th February. At 12 noon, symbolic floral wreaths will be laid at the Maritime Poland Monument in Kościuszki Square. At 18:00 a celebratory session of the Gdynia City Council will take place, during which Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Medals will be awarded “For an outstanding contribution to Gdynia” as well as the “Czas Gdyni” [Time for Gdynia] awards for best Gdynia investments.
In order to make it easier for Gdynia residents to participate in the events, a special public transport timetable has been prepared for the period of the festivities.