Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970

The Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970 stands on Plac Solidarnosci, outside Shipyard Gate No. 2, in the shipyard district of Gdansk in Poland's Pomeranian region. Three tall steel crosses, each topped with an anchor, rise above the square and commemorate the workers who were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters in December 1970. The monument was unveiled on 16 December 1980, during the Solidarity period, and it was one of the first public memorials to the victims to be allowed by the authorities after years of silence. Its design is stark and powerful. The crosses are many metres high and the anchors tie the memory of the dead to the maritime and shipbuilding identity of the city. At the base are relief panels and quotations, including lines from a poem by Czeslaw Milosz that are inscribed on the monument. Visitors typically spend 15 to 20 minutes walking around the base, reading the inscriptions and standing at the gate where the workers died. Candles and flowers are often left at the foot, particularly on the anniversary on 14 to 17 December. Photographs work best from the front of the square with the crosses against the sky, and from a side angle that includes the shipyard gate and the cranes in the distance. As an outdoor monument it is open at all times and free, but many people choose morning, when the light falls across the front, or dusk, when the crosses are silhouetted. The site is normally quiet, though tour groups and school parties gather around midday and on anniversary days. It stands directly beside the European Solidarity Centre, so most visitors combine the two. The monument is about 15 minutes on foot from Gdansk Glowny railway station.