Told from Above · a Shramko 360 series
Author: Andrii ShramkoQueen Jadwiga Bridge and Dworcowa Street, Bydgoszcz — a guided 360° flight
- 3 min
- 360° · 8K
- Open captions
- Online since 11 October 2026
The railway went through Bydgoszcz because Gdańsk said "no".
About the film
The first plan led the line through Chojnice and Gdańsk, but Gdańsk refused, fearing for its port, so the route went through Bydgoszcz. In this film I fly over the Queen Jadwiga Bridge, Dworcowa Street and the red-brick Railway Directorate Building.
One more story from the film: the figure of Christ in front of the Church of the Saviour is a copy of Thorvaldsen's statue in Copenhagen. It used to stand on a family grave in a cemetery that no longer exists. The guide also tells who designed the bridge and why the old railway headquarters waited so long for a new owner.
If you arrive in Bydgoszcz by train, you start right on Dworcowa Street. Take your time and look up.
Places in the film
- Queen Jadwiga Bridge (Most Królowej Jadwigi) Map
- Dworcowa Street Map
- Railway Directorate Building Map
- Hala Astoria Map
- Church of the Saviour (Kościół Zbawiciela) Map
The guide's full text (English)
A professor drew it, a local firm built it. Queen Jadwiga Bridge, Most Królowej Jadwigi, right below us, lamps on tall posts, was designed by Richard Kohnke and built by Windschild and Langelott.
Lech Wałęsa's first official trip as chairman of the Gdańsk strike committee reportedly brought him here. Hala Astoria, the rust-red hall by the river, is where he came to meet the local trade unionists.
Number 21 on Królowej Jadwigi, the street below us, bore a hammer and sickle recalling autumn 1944, when the underground marked the centre with Soviet emblems and wrote on Bydgoszcz town hall, in German: We are already here.
Nobody seems to want the red-brick building right below us. Budynek Dyrekcji Kolei, the old Eastern Railway headquarters, lost its planned dentistry school, every institution offered it said no, and in 2022 the city put its share up for sale.
This church came as half of a deal. Sacred Heart, Najświętszego Serca, the white tower with the green lantern, was approved in 1906 only as a pair: Holy Trinity for the Poles, this church for the Germans.
A French-Polish company ran Poland's coal line to Gdynia from here: the red-brick Eastern Railway headquarters again, where it kept the offices of the line it built with the Polish railways.
The trains came this way because Gdańsk said no: Dworcowa below us is Station Street. The first plan ran the line through Chojnice and Gdańsk, but Gdańsk refused, fearing for its port, so the route went through Bydgoszcz.
The Christ outside this church once stood on a family grave. Kościół Zbawiciela, the Church of the Savior, red brick with a pointed tower, got this copy of Thorvaldsen's Christ in Copenhagen from a cemetery since cleared.
Sacred Heart again: its priest paid for ending German sermons. From 1924 Narcyz Putz pushed to make the German parish Polish, and German complaints drove him out.
How the film was made
8K (7680×3840), 60 fps. Open captions in English, burned into the picture: three copies around the view, one next to the place being described. Narration: a synthetic voice in English.
The guide's facts come from:
Back to all filmsFor the cityFilms for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers
Andrii Shramko
Engineer and filmmaker, living in Bydgoszcz. I have been filming 360° in motion since 2015.