Wrzeszcz

Wrzeszcz (pronounced [ˈvʒɛʃt͡ʃ], German: Langfuhr; Kashubian: Wrzészcz) is one of the boroughs of the Northern Polish city of Gdańsk. With a population of more than 65,000 in an area of 9.9 square kilometres (3.8 square miles) (population density 6,622), Wrzeszcz is the most populous part of Gdańsk.

The current name Wrzeszcz comes from the old name of the area – Wrzost, which derives from wrzos, a Polish and Kashubian: wrzos word for heather. The area of modern Wrzeszcz used to be forest and fields of heather.

Historical sources mention Vriezst in 1263 AD and Vriest 1283 as a place of a mill and by the end of the 13th century the Cistercian Monks of Oliwa owned four or five water mills on the Strieß (Strzyża), the creek running through Wrzeszcz. Vriest is Low German as well as Dutch language word meaning frost.

In 1412 AD, this suburban village was granted to Danzig city councillor Gerd von der Beke, an ally of the Teutonic Knights. The place was known as Langfuhr in the German language.

Early area landowners included the Bischof family, who held the increasingly residential settlement in the late-16th century and early-17th century, and the Köhne family, which started acquiring possessions in the Langfuhr area in 1616 AD. Danzig patrician Zacharias Zappio acquired most of the land between today's Slowackiego and Do Studzienki streets and built a palace there. When King John III Sobieski visited the palace in 1677 AD, the little valley where the palace was located was renamed Königstal (Dolina Krolewska), or King's Valley, to commemorate the occasion. Strictly speaking, in the 17th century the name Langfuhr referred only to a small market square, 130 m by 35 m, on what today is known as Aleja Grunwaldzka () (i.e. Grunwald Avenue).

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