Kolobrzeg

Kolobrzeg has been a salt town since the early Middle Ages - the brine springs here were worked from at least the tenth century and a bishopric was founded in the year 1000 - and it turned that into a spa in the nineteenth century, using brine and mud for treatment, which is still the main industry alongside tourism. The seafront has a pier, a broad beach and a promenade, and the lighthouse stands on the bastion of a former fort at the harbour mouth, climbable, with a mineral collection inside. The old town was almost entirely destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt from the 1980s in a postmodern idiom that reinterprets the Gothic gables rather than copying them, which is unusual in Poland and worth noticing. The brick basilica survived and holds Gothic fittings including large candelabra and a fourteenth-century font. Brine is drawn in a graduation tower in the spa park.

History

The first Slavic settlements around Kołobrzeg grew up near its salt deposits in the 6th and 7th centuries, and in the late 9th century the Pomeranians built a stronghold at today's Budzistowo, working salt pans and using the salt to preserve herring for trade. In 1000 Kołobrzeg became the seat of a bishopric, one of the five oldest Polish dioceses, set up at the Congress of Gniezno (Wikipedia, Kołobrzeg).

What to look for

• A lighthouse on a fort - at the harbour mouth, climbable, with a mineral collection.
• Brine springs and a graduation tower - the salt that made the town, still in use.
• A postmodern old town - rebuilt from the 1980s reinterpreting the Gothic gables.
• The surviving basilica - Gothic fittings, candelabra and a fourteenth-century font.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Things to know

The old town is a modern rebuild, not a preserved one. The resort is crowded in July and August and the beachfront is heavily developed. Spa treatments are for booked patients. The Baltic is cold.

Nearby

The Parseta river valley runs inland; Koszalin is east.

Key facts