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::HISTORY OF SOPOT
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Sopot is one of the smallest (about 41 thousand inhabitants in 2002) but one of the most beautiful Polish towns. A big forest surrounds Sopot to the west and Gdansk Gulf to the east. It takes about three hours from Polish capital Warsaw by train to Sopot. During summer times it has more visitors than citizens from all parts of Europe.

An excavation conducted in Sopot indicates that this region was inhabited during the early Iron Age about V century B.C. Amber was mined in this region during this time, which was then transported to south to Rome Empire. Fist document where you can see the name Sopot is dated on 5th March 1283 when Polish prince Msciwoj II gave Sopot to Cistercian monastery which was located in Oliwa (today you call this Gdansk Oliwa, which is part of big city Gdansk just a few miles south of Sopot). Later Sopot becomes tourist attraction for its big neighbor Gdansk. During Renaissance Sopot slowly transforms to tourist resort. The turning moment in history was when Jean Haffner a doctor form napoleon army settled down in Sopot and opened first baths and building at the same time park and pier.

Luksusowy hotel E. Hugona Werminghoffa (1897) In short time Sopot was transformed to very attractive resort, visited by increasing number of visitors from all parts of Europe. On 8 October 1901 Sopot was promoted to town status by Prussian government in Berlin. After the conference at Versailles (1918) Sopot, which many foreign citizens inhabited, went under the jurisdiction of Free Town Gdansk. After World War II Sopot becomes popular place for artists. Sopot Gallery, which is located in old casino building, is one of the most important art centers in Poland. In Forest Opera a festival takes place every year, which attractsŁazienki północne wybudowane w 1905 roku, zdjęcie pochodzi z 1920 roku many stars from around the world. There are many places where you can play tennis, watch horse races and of course you can ride a horse. As a matter of fact horseraces is the unique place where many state heads used to come to see it. If you like to gamble you can go to Grand Hotel, which is located near pier, a place where you can meet almost everybody.

Ulica Bohaterów Monte Cassino w 1920 rokuSopot as a small town compared to it big neighbors Gdynia and Gdansk was supposed to stay as a tourist resort, but it was slowly transformed to important trade center. Recent years allowed Sopot to integrate fully with the economics structure of modern Europe. As a prelude to coming changes the main street (Monte Cassino Street) was upgraded to a status of modern trading center. This is a place where you can buy almost everything in tens small and big shops. Of course you can find here a place to have a good lunch or dinner and when the night falls there are a lot of disco clubs to choose from. A very dense network of banks makes Sopot a very important financial institution. A very good team of professionals coming from University of law and economy, which is located in Sopot, makes a very important contribution to future development of Sopot. As a matter of fact close location of University of Gdansk and Gdansk Polytechnic contributed to high standard of education of many people. High percentage of inhabitants has some kind of University education what is higher than the national average. Good conditions for investors made Sopot very attractive to invest and over five thousands people have registered some kind of economic activity. In the future Sopot plans to be one of the best tourist attractions in Poland.Panorama Sopotu z 1920 roku.

After the World War II Sopot lost some of its glory mainly because new communist government was not up to its job. But after the communist system collapsed in 1889, better days came. A lot of money has been invested in restoration of old buildings some of them from 18th century and a lot of new structures have been built. The main street Monte Cassino has been renovated but still more is to come. Future development plans include removing all residential building surrounding Main Street and changing them into trading place. Of course Sopot was always known as a tourist attraction and a lot have been done to renovate and build new hotels forever-increasing number of tourists. Every year you can see something new and probably in a few years old Sopot will be only know from pictures.

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