page_title: Old Market square, Bydgoszcz
section_title: After 1945
hierarchical_section_title: Old Market square, Bydgoszcz / History / After 1945
caption_attribution_description: English: Restaurant kaskada Bydgoszcz
context_page_description: Bydgoszcz Old Market square is an oblong place, situated in the old town district of the city of Bydgoszcz. The City Hall flanks one of its side, and nearby is located St. Martin and St. Nicholas Cathedral.
context_section_description: In January 1945, in the first days after the liberation of Bydgoszcz, the monument to Frederick the Great was dismantled and melted away. On May 1, 1948, the fountain-well was reinstalled in front of the still ruined Municipal library, while between 1953 and 1956, parts of the eastern frontage were rebuilt. However, the new authorities did not proceed to the reconstruction of the western frontage, owing to the presence of the Jesuit church which did not fit into the new political line. In 1947, markets on the place were finally liquidated, leaving the area for cultural events and demonstrations.
  In 1962, after the reconstruction of the downtown bridge over the Brda river, the tram traffic resumed through the square till 1969. Between 1968 and 1969, at the north-eastern corner, razed during the war, a functionalist pavilion hosting Kaskada, a gastronomic restaurant, was erected: its radical style caught the eye among others facades. As for the plot where the former Jesuit church used to stand, city authorities unveiled there on September 5, 1969, a monument commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom of Bydgoszcz Land (Polish: Pomnik Walki i Męczeństwa Ziemi Bydgoskiej).
  In 1974, following a ministerial resolution, a revalorization of the Old Town, including the Old Market Square, began. The project aimed at re-organizing the commercial network, the transport network layout and giving back to the shop frontages their historic outline. In the 1970s, the following achievements appeared:
  the tenement house at No. 16 hosted Antykwariat Naukowy, an antique shop;
  No. 18 accommodated a store selling crystals;
  ground floors at No. 20 and 22 were modernized;
  a "Salon of the Visual Arts Studio" was set up in the corner house at No. 27, and cellars converted into a café;
  in the cellar at No. 25, Cepelia salon was established.
  Such changes were also implemented on the eastern frontage of the Square.
  From 1973 to 1975, tram and vehicles were banned from the place and some outgoing streets converted into pedestrian venues (e.g. Mostowa and  Magdzińskiego streets).
  On May 3, 1981, bishop Jan Michalski celebrated a mass for the homeland from the stairs of the library, in front of an audience of 100.000 gathered on the Old Market Square; the reader was Daniel Olbrychski. It was the largest demonstration to support Solidarność trade union in the history of the city, and one of the largest gatherings in Bydgoszcz (the largest one being for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1999).
  After Poland's accession to European Union, a competition was held in 2010 to re-design the western side of the Market, but results did not meet public expectations. On December 10, 2011, the former gastronomic complex Kaskada has been bulldozed. In 2013, the plot has been reconstructed, together with Jatki Street.
  In autumn 2016, archaeological research started on the square, prior to the renovation of the area. This project  planned, in particular, to move the monument 15 m closer to the Bydgoszcz Cathedral, allowing the building of a 35-m long high-tech fountain. The Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Inspector of Monuments, on the rationale of the diggings report, barred the realization of the fountain so as to preserve the foundations on the western frontage (church walls and towers, relics of tenement houses with cellar vaults) over an area of 500 m². Once the renovation is achieved, the sector will be free of car traffic.
  In May 2018, the contractor which won the bid for the modernization of the Old Market Square was announced: local firm Betpol, for a budget of 14.3 million PLN. The main part of the works is to be carried out by mid-November 2018, and the project completed by mid-2019. Construction works have started on June 25, 2018.
  The 18° East line of longitude runs through the center of the Old Market Square. So far this geographical particular is heralded by a small obelisk set on Mill Island: it is foreseen to emphasize this fact on the pavement of the Old Market, once revitalization works are over.
caption: Restaurant Kaskada
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