Most Kamieniarski, Gdańsk

Most Kamieniarski links Ołowianka Island with Szafarnia Street across the Stępka Canal. It is also known as the Red Bridge and the Szafarnia Bridge. Its name preserves the memory of Gdańsk’s stonemasons’ guild, whose workshops once occupied the Szafarnia waterfront.

Notice the waterway slipping beneath the bridge: this small crossing binds an island district into the life of the old harbour. The canal was dug in the year 1576, and the bridge followed that work. It already appears on city plans from 1617.

For generations, the span could be raised to admit vessels, a function it retained until about 1843. By the close of the nineteenth century it had been rebuilt in masonry, and the bridge took on its present form in 1930. For traffic coming from the Main Town, this is Ołowianka’s nearest road connection.

Other ways onto the island include a former railway bridge and a lifting footbridge, while a passenger ferry provides a route across the Motława. A modest bridge, perhaps, but it carries the imprint of craft guilds, canal engineering, and the working waterfront that shaped this part of Gdańsk.