One of my dreams is to visit every bigger city in Poland and also every capital in the world. This is how I came to Bydgoszcz a year ago, which charmed me over a weekend.
We can split Bydgoszcz into two parts. The first part is the Old Town, in other words, the main square and lovely Mlynska Island with the magical stairs. The second part of the city is for everyday living where we can find awesome murals and very high tenement houses (completely different from those in Lodz).
Let’s go on the walk around Bydgoszcz (Poland).
Tour in Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/zbksP6xSEm5YNVeY7
Walking time: 1:30
1. Fotografka Jadwiga Szopieraj, Sebastian Jimenez, Pomorska St. 68
Fotografka is a work of Colombian artist Sebastian Jimenez (vel. SEPC). The mural is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, the main character Jadwiga Szopieraj is a Bydgoszcz photographer from the beginning of the 20th century. She ran her workshop until the 1960s. She is considered one of the pioneers of professional photography in Bydgoszcz.
The mural is also interesting because of the technique used in its creation. The photo has been transferred to the wall in the negative, so only when you take a photo of the mural and open it in a special app on the phone, you will be able to see the work in its colours.
2. Punk Teddy the Cloud Racer, Dawid Paradowski (Woskerski), Podolska St. 11
A tiny mural is located in the less representative part of Bydgoszcz. Looking at the neighborhood struggling with time, it’s a matter of time when this fairy-tale punk work will disappear. The author wanted to create a contrast with the surroundings. Podolska Street is not very picturesque, so the theme of the mural is soft and humorous.
3. Mural at Obrońców Bydgoszczy St. 11, Sepe + Chazme
The mural is painted in the style typical for the authors – with a loop motif. On the wall, we see a looping staircase, on which the man is walking. Man’s appearance changes. We see a fat rich man. After a few steps, the figure is clearly thinner and without a jacket, to start using a cane and turns into a beggar.
4. Breakfast of Champions, Spectrum + Etam + Pain, Księdza Piotra Skargi St. 6
There are a lot of things going on in this mural. The coffee waves, a box of breakfast cereal explodes, and the main character eats some green mush that looks like bars from a chart. What this is about? The title of the mural “Breakfast of Champions”, which refers to the novel “Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday” by Kurt Vonnegut, helps with an interpretation. The book strongly criticizes the American lifestyle, including the pursuit of the so-called American dream. There, we can assume that the mural’s character implements such a lifestyle.
5. Peter Pan, Spectrum + Roem + Pener + Sainer + Bezt + Boier + Kome + Chylo+ Pain + Tope, 3 maja 16
This mural is one of the most beautiful murals in Bydgoszcz. Although it is ten floors high, it isn’t lacking in detail. The mural tree fits perfectly into the greenery surrounding the building.
6. Be Silent, Tone + Maniac + Scoby + Poza + Pain + Okaz + Miłość under the guidance Twożywo Group, 3 maja St. 14
Since the creation of this mural (or more precisely, a typographic mural) everything commenced in Bydgoszcz. 🙂 This is the first OFFICIAL painted wall by street artists.
7. Kazimierz, Bartosz Bujanowski, Jagiellońska St. 36
For every city in Poland, an important event in history was receiving city rights. That is why this mural proudly presents the Polish king, Kazimierz Wielki, who granted Bydgoszcz these rights.
8. Miss from the Window, Adam Kłodziński & Sebastian Tkaczyk, Toruńska St. 49
This mural stands out from its surroundings. The vivid colors and exotic look of the heroine of the mural make it difficult to take your eyes off this wall. Thanks to this, the authors achieved the assumed goal – to add some colors to this neighborhood.
9. Winter’s Tale, Etam Crew, Karpacka St. 29
This mural was created because the authors were fascinated by Antarctica. The authors painted a mural with a little help from local seniors. The artists are well-known in the street art world.
10. 100th Anniversary of Bydgoszcz’s Return to Poland, Dawid Celka, Karpacka St. 39
The mural is on the wall of a skyscraper on Liberty Hill. It shows a key suspended on a white and red ribbon, with a panorama of Bydgoszcz underneath it.
This is another historic mural that was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bydgoszcz’s return to Poland. The work refers to the handing over of the symbolic key to the city by the German mayor to a Polish lawyer who became the first presiding president of Polish Bydgoszcz. The image of the key on the mural is the original. You can see this key in the District Museum in Bydgoszcz.
In Bydgoszcz, we can find more murals than the 10 which I described. So I hope that you have fun with discover this really beautiful city.
During preparing this article, I am looking for information (and by the way I discovered an amazing blog) from Zofia and the blog Okiem Misza.
If you need more tips or mural addresses, let me know in the comments.
Bye, bye!
Karolajn
Part of Streets 