Is This Europe's Most Artistic Housing Estate?

With strikingly huge and colourful wall murals in an everyday residential neighbourhood, could this be the most artistic housing estate in Europe? Once you depart the train, feast your eyes on this completely free outdoor art gallery which gets bigger and better, year on year. These are walls of pure graphic magic. But where is it? What’s it all about?

Welcome to Zaspa, in Gdańsk, Poland

Welcome to Zaspa! Zaspa is a neighbourhood in the Polish seaside city of Gdańsk. In this estate, artists from Poland and further afield have decorated the walls of ordinary blocks of flats where people live. The craze began in 1997 during a festival organised to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Gdańsk as a city. At the time, only ten of the walls were painted, but the trend continued…

The estate now has over 60 massive wall murals

Now the collection amasses over 60 large murals and around 100 murals in total, some of which are on the doors and entrances to people’s houses. The estate has attracted visitors from far and wide, yet still sits under the radar and is not often considered by most tourists who visit Gdańsk. It’s still very much a hidden gem in what is an iconic Polish city.

Even the entrances to people’s homes have murals on them!

Imagine leaving your flat every day and exiting through well-decorated entrances. This is the reality for the neighbourhood’s 31,589 residents. As well as the huge walls being painted, entrances, porches and many other parts of the neighbourhood have now been doused in quirky art…

There have been some famous residents and visitors visiting

Zaspa has also had some well-known residents and visitors down the years. This is the housing estate where the famous Lech Wałęsa lived during Solidarity (Solidarność) times. In 1987, Pope John Paul II also visited Zaspa. Nagorskiego Street in Zaspa is named after Jan Nagorski, a heroic Polish pilot dating who undertook some polar expeditions back in the days when planes were not in common use. Finally, the street Ulica Bajana in Zaspa is named after Jerzy Bajan, a valiant Polish army veteran.

There is even a school of murals here

As well as admiring the murals, you can actually visit Gdańsk School of Murals. Workshops are led by Rafał Roskowiński and Jacek Zdybel. Their aim is to maintain and restore the original function of murals to the collection and to create a social-political art, reacting to current events and developing a coherent style of art.

Plan your trip to Zaspa

So head to the Official Zaspa Murals website, print out the map and plan your trip. Guides can be arranged to give you a historic and informative tour through this wonderful artistic housing estate. New murals are added all the time as Zaspa continues to develop into one of Europe’s most fascinating residential housing estates.

Zaspa, Gdańsk, Poland

A video from the official Zaspa Murals website shows the murals in all their beauty.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.