Told from Above · a Shramko 360 series
Author: Andrii ShramkoPiastowski Square and Śniadeckich Street, Bydgoszcz — a guided 360° flight
- 3 min
- 360° · 8K
- Open captions
- Online since 12 October 2026
Hotel Brda is so big that Śniadeckich Street was narrowed next to it.
About the film
The end of the street is still closed to traffic. In this film I fly over Piastowski Square and its market, which the city wanted to move away from here but dropped the plan in 2014.
One more story from the film: opposite the Sacred Heart church lived Szczepan Jankowski, a blind virtuoso, composer and conductor. The street between the church and the bazaar is named after him today. The guide also tells who moved into the townhouses on Śniadeckich Street: mostly railwaymen, minor officials and teachers.
If you are ever in Bydgoszcz, walk along Śniadeckich Street and stop by the market: this is what the city looks like day to day.
Places in the film
- Piastowski Square Map
- Śniadeckich Street Map
- Hotel Brda Map
- Sacred Heart Church Map
- Piastowski Square market Map
The guide's full text (English)
What happens when a building is too big for its street? Hotel Brda, the tall twin slab with rows of windows, is so big that Śniadeckich Street was narrowed, and the street's end is still closed to traffic.
Its plot was reserved before the railway quarter existed. Kościół Zbawiciela, the Church of the Saviour, far off with its stepped gable, stands on the Bocianowo farm's old Evangelical graveyard, kept for a church in the 1853 plan.
Who has this square been named after? First a queen: it was Elisabeth Markt, for Elisabeth of Bavaria, wife of the reigning King of Prussia. Then came Piastowski Square, and from 1940 to 1945, Goebbels Platz.
Even its own parish calls this priest tactless and quarrelsome. Kazimierz Stepczyński ran Kościół Najświętszego Serca, the Sacred Heart, whose clock is right beside us, with ardent faith, until he became a Gestapo victim; his body was never found.
Its offices are to become hotel rooms. Budynek Dyrekcji Kolei, the Railway Directorate Building, far off under grey roofs: Grupa Konkret, the firm behind Twierdza Modlin, plans a reception, a hotel bar and a conference hall there.
Who moved into the tenements along Śniadeckich Street? Mostly railwaymen, minor officials and teachers, workers from the railway workshops, and soldiers from the barracks on Warszawska Street, which was called Karlstrasse back then.
Back at Sacred Heart, the neighbour across the road was a blind virtuoso. Szczepan Jankowski, composer and conductor, lived opposite the church, on Śniadeckich Street, and the street between the church and the bazaar now bears his name.
And the market itself? The city meant to move it off Plac Piastowski to the Rycerska loop, along with the petrol station, but in 2014 it gave the plan up.
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.