Johannes Hevelius or Jan Heweliusz (1611-1687) depending on whether you're talking to a German or a Pole was a 17th century astonomer, brewer and former mayor of Gdansk. This statue was designed by Jan Szczypka and unveiled on January 28th 2006, the 395th anniversary of his birth. Hevelius is widely regarded as the last great astronomer to work without lenses and instead made many of his discoveries using a quadrant and alidade. Among discoveries credited to him are four comets and the Scutum Sobiescianum (Sobieski's shield) constellation, named in honour of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski's victory against the Ottoman empire at Vienna. Hevelius died on his 76th birthday and is buried in the nearby St Catherine's Church. [...]

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Lying right outside famous gate no. 2 to the  Gdansk Shipyards (formally the Lenin Shipyards) the monument was unveiled in 1980 to commemorate the events of 1970 when 45 people died during street riots protesting against the communist regime.

The right to erect this memorial was one of Solidarity's main demands during the 1980 lock-in. The 42-metre, 139-tonne steel sculpture stands on the spot where the first three victims of the 1970 riots were killed. There are three crosses to represent the three victims and the crosses themselves signify the suffering and sacrifice of all the protestors.

Lech Walesa referred to this enormous steel structure as 'a harpoon driven through the body of a whale. No matter how hard the whale struggles, it can never get rid of it.'

The monument is marked by a poignant inscription by Czesław Miłosz: 'You who have harmed simple man, mocking him with your laughter, you kill him, someone else will be born, and your deeds and words will be written down'.

Surrounding the monument are several memorials and plaques dedicated to victims of totalitarianism. [...]

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Commissioned in 1979 by the Polish Communications Ministry and the Council for the Protection of Monuments of Battle and Martyrdom, and unveiled on September 1 of the same year, the stainless steel Defenders of the Polish Post Monument was designed by the Krakow-based sculptor Wincenty Ku& [...]

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As you head up Victory Avenue (Al. Zwyciestwa) towards Wrzeszcz from Gdansk old town, you may notice a small green tank sitting on a plinthe to your right. This Russian made T-34 celebrates the 'liberation' of Gdansk in May 1945. According to local information, this is tank #121 which was under the command of Lieutenant Julian Miazga and was the first to enter Gdynia on March 27th 1945 as part of the Soviet/Polish offensive on the city.
However alternative reports claim that Miazga's tank was destroyed in Redłowo just outside of Gdynia and the tank you see before you was in fact one of the other tanks which survived the battle and not the symbolic 121 belonging to Miazga. In a further twist, a local group protested in 2000, on the 55th anniversary of the liberation, that the tank was inappropriate and tabled a petition questioning the legitimacy of honouring an event which to them represented the passing of the city from one occupier to another. The petition appears to have fallen on deaf ears, particularly from the local government, and the tank still stands today. Regular paint jobs are required to cover up the frequent graffiti that it attracts. [...]

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