Old Poznań: Dude, you've simply got to see this!
Poznań, Nowa Gazownia (New Gasworks)/Fot. Łukasz Ogrodowczyk / Agencja Gazeta
In the middle of the XIX century the city gasworks were built on Grobla island on the Warta River. For years it smelled of a mixture of sulphides and ammonia as it produced gas from coal. At the beginning coal was brought from England via Szczecin because Poznań didn't have a railway connection with Silesia at that time. At the turn of the century, due to the increasing demand for electricity the plant was in crisis. However, it managed to survive. The gasworks ended production in 1970 when Poznań switched over to natural gas.
Today, the red brick buildings stand on solid land in Ulica Grobla thanks to the regulation of the Warta river bed. It's well worth looking at the old boiler plant. Because of its shape it is often called a cathedral. There are plans to create an art centre to be called the Nowa Gazownia replacing the old gasworks with a space for theatre, galleries, concerts, art workshops, recreation and social bonding centre. However, the investment requires huge capital expenditure, so the city, in order to give the people a foretaste of what will be built, has placed a round pavillion with concert hall, conference room, small bar and an information centre in the Nowa Gazownia centre.