Gdynia is the only large city in Poland located directly on the seashore. The widely known unique landscape values and intriguing history of Gdynia helped build a large seaport next to the small village within a few years, and as a result the former village radically changed and grew so much that it was granted urban rights in 1926.
The construction of the city centre fell on the period of gradual introduction of modern solutions in architecture and urban planning of the twentieth century. As a result, the way the city centre of Gdynia was planned and built still provides its residents and users with comfort and functionality. The architecture of the city centre of Gdynia is dominated by a trend generally called modernism, and the experimental solutions introduced permanently into architecture a hundred years ago, became the standard until today. Therefore, the modernist city centre of Gdynia, started about 100 years ago as an original and modern solution, is an area of exceptional value on a European and global scale.