Old Poznań: Dude, you've simply got to see this!
Poznań, Stary Browar (the Old Brewery)/Fot. Shutterstock
"Harley riders like coming here so much that they even built a driveway. "It's popular with Harley riders, they've even had a ramp built for them. Like cowboys, still in the saddle, they can order a bottle of vodka and drink it at the bar, is how Gazeta Wyborcza described the Stary Browar back in 1996. Then it was the name given to a pub on the corner of ulica Półwiejska and Kościuszki, next to a fizzy water bottling plant that stood in the remains of the hundred year old Hugger Brewery. At the end of the 1990s one of the richest people in Poland, Grażyna Kulczyk, became the owner of the ruins, and she set about building the Stary Browar Centre for Business, Commerce and Art there where the bikers used to sup their beer.
On Wednesday, 5th December 2003 the city went bonkers. For the opening of the Atrium, the first part of the investment, enormous crowds appeared, the streets were blocked with traffic, Klaus Schulze gave a concert, bright lights shone. The first centre of its kind! With Zara and H&M! But the general delight was accompanied by some unpleasant whispering. A few months earlier it had emerged that the plots on which the Stary Browar was supposed to expand had been sold to the Kulczyks for a song. They paid for building land as if it were a park.
The courts still haven't decided whether what the city did was proper or not. The whispering died down, though, and the Stary Browar already has another wing called the Pasaż and, together with the Stary Rynek, the Browar is a must see for any foreign tourist visiting Poznań. An award winner for the most beautiful shopping centre in the world, the Browar charms with its artful connection of industrial architecture with modernity. It's worth seeing the fake tenement facade on Półwiejska, climb the steps from Ulica Kościuszki, see the courtyard imitating a plaza between the Atrium and the Pasaż or look for Grażyna Kulczyk's image on one of the elevators.
The owner has decorated the building with works of art. In the Atrium you'll find an amazing bench made by Piotr Kurka symbolizing the fight between good and evil and many other things. The columns by the escalator are covered by a Leon Tarasewicz installation and the screens next to it inform the public about forthcoming events in The Pasaż Kultury. The Stary Browar is also a special place for all fans of modern dance.
In the Pasaż you can see works by Mendini and Henyo. On the ground floor in the Atrium there is Bookarest a great combination of well-stocked bookstore, cafe and design, gadget shop. There is also the SQ club for lovers of clubbing, while fans of luxurious bedrooms may be attracted to the five star Blow Up Hall Hotel. In one of the rooms you can roll straight out of bed into the bath, while in another the bath is hidden inside a wardrobe. All this for just 200 euros a night.
If you can't afford such expensive sleep, you can just peek into the hotel lobby from Ulica Kościuszki to see the work "Blow Up" by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in which you will see yourself pixellated. Harley riders never had opportunities like this.