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Oliwa

Some 5km northwest of city centre, the sleepy Gdańsk suburb of Oliwa began life as a small Slavic-Pomeranian settlement that grew around a Cistercian monastery established in the latter half of the 12th century. After a long period as a religious centre and a few catastrophes along the way including substantial devastation caused by the Swedes in 1626 and again in 1656 , Oliwa settled down to a peaceful and prosperous life, becoming an independent city from 1874 until 1926. Escaping major damage during WWII, today's Oliwa is home to around 20,000 people as well as a number of beasts living in the city's superb zoo, is the proud owner of one of Gdańsk's best parks, boasts a couple of wonderful museums and offers visitors a charmingly bucolic and distinctively different excursion. Check out the best cultural listings here, or see the main Gdańsk pages for information on Oliwa's hotels and restaurants.



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Gdansk | Sightseeing | Oliwa

Contemporary Art Museum
Inside the superb Pałac Opatów, of which the oldest parts date back to the 15th century but which owes its present look to a splendid Rococo overhaul in the mid-18th century, the Contemporary Art Museum houses works by more than 140 post-WWII Polish artists as well as puttin [...]


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ul. Cystersów 18 (Oliwa Park)
tel. 058 552 12 71

Open:
09:00-16:00
Sunday:
10:0-17:00
Monday:
Closed
Saturday:
10:0-17:00 Last entrance 45 minutes before closing.
Ethnographic Museum
Located inside the 18th-century Abbatial Granary inside Oliwa Park, this delightful little diversion features three floors showcasing all manner of folk-related artifacts from Eastern Pomerania and is considered to be one of the best collections of its kind in Poland. Exhibits include a w [...]


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ul. Cystersów 19 (Oliwa Park)
tel. 058 552 12 71

Open:
09:00-16:00
Sunday:
10:00-17:00
Monday:
Closed
Saturday:
10:00-17:00 Last entrance 30 minutes before closing.
Gdańsk Zoo
Set in 130 hectares of prime countryside inside a charming valley, and one of the biggest zoos in the country, Gdańsk Zoo just northwest of Oliwa offers scores of animals from tiny hippos to kangaroos to penguins to a series of cages stuffed with apes. And the big event of 2008 is the long [...]


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ul. Karwieńska 3 (Oliwa)
tel. 058 552 17 51

Open:
09:00-15:00 Last tickets sold one hour before closing.
Getting there
In good weather Oliwa can be walked to from the centre of Gdańsk by a number of different routes in less than hour.  The Tri-City train (kolejka) runs from Gdańsk Główny station and stops at Gdańsk Oliwa. Oliwa can be reached by car in about 20 minutes from central Gdańsk. [...]


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Oliwa Cathedral
Oliwa's towering Cathedral taking pride of place at the western end of Oliwa Park was originally built as a simple wooden structure in the 12th century, and it was only in 1224 that the brickwork was added. The year 1350 saw a half-wit kitchen boy accidentally start a fire that engulfed th [...]


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ul. Biskupa Edmunda Nowickiego 5
tel. 058 552 47 65

Open:
09:00-17:00
Sunday:
14:00-17:00
Saturday:
09:00-15:00
Oliwa Park
The exact origins of Oliwa's delightful 10-hectare park are lost to time, but what is known is that Oliwa's last Cistercian abbot, Jacek Rybiński (1701-1782) had the gardener Kazimierz Dębiński originate the beginnings of its contemporary appearance by designing a French Rococo part of the garden, still in existence today in the south of the park. After Rybiński's death a family by the name of Hohenzollern-Hechingen took over the park, introducing even more grand designs, and over the years, and in the hands of several different people, Oliwa Park gradually took on its modern look, with the addition of a Chinese garden, English touches, a botanical gardens (closed in winter) and palm house. Today's park is a hugely popular place for people to come and relax, picnic and enjoy the many sights it has on offer. A fun attraction are the so-called Whispering Caves (aka. Dionysus' Ears) to the southeast of the Pałac Opatów. Assuming that nobody has relieved themselves here for a while, it's possible for two people to stand in each 'ear' and have a conversation in the quietest of whispers. The mad news though is that much of the park may soon be closed off to the public; Oliwa's monks are currently campaigning to be granted exclusive access to the grounds. Watch this space.
[...]


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ul. Opacka 12
tel. 058 552 17 50
Open 06:00 - 20:30. From April Open 05:00-23:00.