Sites to see
The Pomeranian Dukes' Castle – is the oldest and the best preserved defence architecture object of Pomerania. The castle was built on Odra River island by duke Bogusław V in XIV century. Within the space of XV and XVI century the castle was enlarged and modernised many times. Although the Gryfits treated Darłowo as temporary residence, they exert themselves that castle had got glamour and splendour worthy of Duke’s residence.
St. Mary’s Church – from XIV century, Gothic style. In the side-chapel there are sarcophaguses of Pomeranian duke Eryk I and duchess Jadwiga and Elżbieta – wives of the two last Pomeranian dukes.
In 1321 the bishop Konrad gave the patronage over the parish to Pomeranian magnate family Święcowie. In the same year the building of the St. Mary’s Church started. The church afflicted many fire catastrophes, the most tragic happened in 1676 when from the clap of thunder the inside of the church burned together with the church tower. From 1535 until the end of 1945 the church belonged to Protestants.
St. Gertrude’s Church – from XV century, the epitome of Scandinavian Gothic. It is the unique church architecture in Pomerania and it is the one and only twelve-side church in the whole Poland. Its shape refers to Holy Sepulchre – it is the rotunda built in plan of hexagon with twelve-side byway. The oldest information about the St. Gertrude’s chapel comes from 1497 when Darłowo afflicted the greatest flood in the history caused by seismic movements. The sea waves were so powerful that they threw ship under of the hill where the church stays. St. Gertrude was patron saint of sailors and travellers.
St. George’s Church – built in XV century outside the city was associated with the Holy Spirit hospital where sick and poor were kept.
Market – with historic buildings and medieval street arrangement. There are splendid Renaissance and Baroque bourgeois tenement houses. The Powstańców Warszawskich Str. adjacent to the market was earlier Długa Str. marked up in 1312. There are many historic tenement houses from XVIII and XIX century here.
The Stone Gate – the only preserved part of the stronghold from XIV century. The keep gives the idea how the battlements looked like, although it has changed its shape and character through centuries. Building of the battlements not only improved the defence possibilities of the town, but also strengthened its political prestige. The current shape the gate owes to the renovation made in 1732. The date is immortalized on the elevation from the town side by iron rods. It was built from bricks in wendian arrangement, in upper part Polish, crowned by four-slope, tented roof. Inside the gate the shooting holes has preserved used by guards to observe the whole town and inform their citizens in case of fire or other danger.
Town hall – rebuilt in 1725. Nowadays it is the seat of local authorities. Since 1725 it has had the role of town hall. The old town hall located in the centre of the market, burned to the ground during the big fire in 1722. The inside of the building doesn’t have any historic character and equipments. The notable is Renaissance portal remaining after the old town hall above the entrance. It shows the crest – griffon with a fish tail – and Latin inscription.
Fisherman Monument – built in memory of sea people in 1919. It was designed by Wilhelm Gross from Sławno and sponsored by Hemptenmacher family (one of the wealthiest and famous families in the town. The members of the family were the owner of significant sailing ships and merchant ships on the Baltic Sea). The monument situated in the centre of the old town nearby the town hall is also a fountain.
Lighthouse – the first information comes from 1715 when it was ordered to place lights on both sides of Wieprza River. The building of the lighthouse was started not until 1885. The single-storied station for pilots with two-storied tower were built first. In 1927 the new storey of the tower was added. Currently the lighthouse height amounts to 22 m, and the light reaches 15 nautical miles (around 27,8 km). Since 2000 the lighthouse is available for tourists.
Extensible bridge – built in 1988 on the place of the old drawbridge between East and West Darłówko. It is the one of its kind bridge in the whole Poland. The bridge is lifted from time to time to allow ships and fishing boats to set sail or come back. The bridge is available only for pedestrians. Motorised are forced to go through Darłowo if they want to get to East Darłówko. Nearby the bridge there is a round control tower called by Darłowo citizens “UFO”.
Bunkers – built by Hitler’s army in the Second World War located in many km of sand dunes strip in West Darłówko and Bobolino. Moreover there is a crane used then for loading shells and so-called Chinese walls remains of assembly plant of missiles and shells.
Wind power plant – consists of 9 large windmills and 6 smaller ones. Currently there are one of the biggest high-powered windmills in Europe (2 MW) 118 m high.