Szczecin's time to shine

For over a year, the port city of Szczecin has been looking to modernize its appearance. Last year the Szczecin City Council passed the Local Revitalization Program, and Marian Jurek, Mayor of Szczecin, set up the Bureau of the Plenipotentiary for Revitalization. The program indicated eight areas in the city which were in need of renovation. Now that design and architectural works on two of the eight projects - known as 'Art Depot' and 'Szczecin Embankments' - have been completed, the City Hall has applied for zł.61 million in EU financing. The total value of both projects exceeds some zł.74 million.

"[The Program] proves that there is a need to bring back the historical connections of Szczecin and the Odra estuary as well as a public willingness to build a truly European metropolis," says Hans van de Sanden, the Mayor's Plenipotentiary for Revitalization.

Through the 'Szczecin Embankments - Cultural Inheritance and Tourism' program, the city intends to strengthen Szczecin's position in the European tourism market, create tourist products based on the historical connections of the city and its proximity to water, and re-establish and maintain the city's importance relative to other Polish cities.

The Szczecin Embankments project is worth some zł.61 million, and includes adaptation of historical buildings to cultural needs (some 10,000 sqm), renovation of historical buildings for the benefit of tourism (five buildings), revitalization of the surroundings of the historical buildings, especially in areas near the water (10 ha) and maintenance of the movable technical monuments (five objects). Completion is scheduled for 2010.

The other project, the Art Depot, includes adaptation of the former tram depot. The new facility will house the newly established Technology and Transport Museum and will also become a project incubator for non-profit organizations. The project is worth some zł.13 million and is scheduled for completion in 2007.

The the Bureau of the Plenipotentiary for Revitalization is working on other undertakings. In the second quarter of 2006, the city plans to apply for another set of funds to renovate the Youth Palace on ul. Wojska Polskiego and reconstruct ul. Jedności Narodowej between Plac Lotników and Plac Grunwaldzki. The value of the project amounts to some zł.6.5 million, and the Bureau is still working on another ten projects, worth some zł.50 million.