Zaspa Murals

Zaspa is a large housing estate built in the 1970s and 1980s on the site of a former airfield in Gdansk, made of the standard prefabricated concrete blocks of the period, and since 1997 its blank gable ends have been painted: around sixty murals now, several storeys high, by Polish and international artists, forming what is usually described as one of the largest collections of monumental murals in Europe. The programme began with a set marking the millennium of Gdansk and became an annual festival, with the works ranging from political and historical subjects - Solidarity, the airfield, local history - to purely graphic and abstract pieces. There is a marked walking route between them and a small gallery in the district that documents the collection. Lech Walesa lived in one of these blocks, which the district notes. The point of the place is the contrast: monotonous grey slabs carrying very large images.

What you actually see

• Around sixty murals - several storeys high on the gable ends of concrete blocks.
• A walking route - marked between the works across the estate.
• Subjects from history to abstraction - Solidarity and local memory alongside graphics.
• The estate itself - 1970s prefabricated blocks on a former airfield.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is a residential estate with no tourist infrastructure - no cafes to speak of and long distances between blocks. Some murals have faded or been painted over. Grey weather flattens them badly.

Nearby

Gdansk Oliwa is north; the old town is south-east by train.