Central Square in Nowa Huta

Central Square in Nowa Huta is a symmetrical square in the eastern part of Kraków, the centre of the urban plan of Nowa Huta. It is both a transport hub and a park, and in the Polish People's Republic era it was the commercial and service centre of the district. Its full name is Ronald Reagan Central Square.

History of the square

Construction began in 1949, and the architectural concept was developed by Tadeusz Ptaszycki and Marta and Janusz Ingarden. The square was meant to be the centre of an ideal city, with wide avenues radiating like a star. It was planned on the north side of the old road from Kraków to Sandomierz.

A theatre was to stand on the south side, and behind it a reservoir on the Nowohuckie Meadows, with an obelisk in the middle of the square. These ideas were abandoned in the mid-1950s, after Nowa Huta was incorporated into Kraków. The square received the name of its patron on 8 September 2004, after a dispute over removing the word “Central”, which in the end stayed in the name.

What the square looks like

On three sides the square is surrounded by residential buildings with service premises on the ground floors, with shop windows in the form of arcades, loggias and decorated façades referring to the Renaissance. The southern side is occupied by the undeveloped Nowa Huta Builders' Square, with the Solidarity monument and a view from the escarpment over the Vistula valley. On the square and on Roses Avenue, after the modernisation of 2004, candelabra lamps returned, and a promenade with benches was laid out in the middle.

The complex of buildings around the square is listed in the heritage register (entry of 27 April 2015, dated 1952-1956). Nearby, the history of the district is told by the Nowa Huta Museum, and the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre, whose construction began in the 1980s, has a large theatre stage and galleries.

Practical information

• Location: Nowa Huta, Kraków; the avenues Jana Pawła II, Solidarności, Andersa and Roses Avenue radiate from the square.
• The square is open to all and is seen on a walk; the shops and premises in the frontages have their own hours.
• Getting there by public transport: check current connections in the timetable.