Country: Poland
Organisation website: https://ecs.gda.pl
Contact person: Joanna Kalata, e-mail: [email protected] +48 58 772 40 48
Organisation type: Public cultural organisation
Scale of the organization: 90 employees
Aims and activities of the organisation: “Europe starts here” - this motto of the European Heritage
Label welcomes all those who cross the threshold of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. The European Commission has distinguished the complex of the Historic Gdańsk Shipyard - BHP Hall, Gate No. 2, Solidarity Square with the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970 and the ECS - because it symbolises the birth of Solidarity and the peaceful revolution that has transformed Central and Eastern
Europe. The European Solidarity Centre Gdańsk is a cultural institution with the aim to promote the knowledge about the peaceful
victory of Solidarity. The ECS foundation stone was laid in May 2011. An international competition for the design of the ECS
building attracted entries from 58 architectural studios throughout the world. The competition jury selected the design
submitted by the Gdańsk-based architectural firm FORT. Since the opening of its new building in August 2014, the ECS has
welcomed 6.5 million visitors from all over the world, making it one of Poland’s biggest tourist attractions. The ECS is also the only museum in Poland honoured with the Council of Europe Museum Prize (2016), which has been awarded annually for more than 40 years to museums that have made a significant contribution to the understanding of Europe’s cultural heritage. The heart of the ECS is a permanent exhibition dedicated to
the history of Solidarity and the changes it triggered in Central and Eastern Europe. Besides modern spatial structures and
multimedia presentations, the interactive exhibition contains authentic shipyard equipment and valuable memorabilia. In
2021 the ECS permanent exhibition was awarded with THE EUROPEAN HERITAGE AWARD / EUROPA NOSTRA AWARD as it
highlights the value of activism for human rights, labour rights and political rights, and shows the importance of civic
engagement in the advancement of these causes – as the jury stated. As the heart of the institution the exhibition shapes the
activities for the ECS education centre, a research centre, an archive, a library and a media centre.
