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cultureinpoznan.pl News Rataje: From Rural Settlements to Prefabricated Concrete-Slab Estates
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Rataje: From Rural Settlements to Prefabricated Concrete-Slab Estates

The choice to develop Poznań on the right bank of the Warta marked a radical shift in urban planning as the city had previously mainly grown westward, with the river acting as a natural barrier to eastward development. In the aftermath of the war, a lack of available land and an acute housing crisis pushed urban planners to focus on the former suburban villages of Rataje, Chartowo, and Żegrze on the Warta's right bank.

A black and white photo of a housing estate. A car park is in the foreground. - grafika artykułu
Piastowskie Housing Estate, 1974, photograph by S. Wiktor
A black and white photo of a housing estate. A car park is in the foreground.
Black and white photo of several tables and people sitting at them on a concrete terrace. A block of flats in the background.
A black and white photo of the interior of a supermarket, with several staff members and shoppers.
Black and white photo of a residential block, a street and several cars in the foreground.
Black and white photo of children standing in four rows on grass, with their hands up. Two kids are holding big beach balls. A residential buildings in the background.
Black and white photo of housing estates with a street between them.
Black and white aerial photo of a housing estate, with buildings parallel to each other.
Black and white photo of a street with cars, trams and a bus from 1970s. Some people standing an a tram stop.

The village of Rataje was incorporated into Poznań a century ago, in 1925. Initial concepts for developing the area surfaced a few years afterward, but it wasn't until the late 1950s that the final decision to construct residential estates was made.

Rataje was a historic settlement, already referenced in Poznań's founding charter. Over the centuries, it was repeatedly depopulated by war and pestilence, only to be rejuvenated by the arrival of the Bamberg settlers and later Bulgarian gardeners. It is no surprise that people wanted to settle here as Rataje boasted fertile black soil. One can only imagine the anguish of local farmers upon being forced to leave their land. Towering cranes invaded the idyllic landscape, shattering its former tranquillity, while the remaining village dwellings were increasingly hemmed in by concrete blocks of flats. Thus commenced the most extensive post-war urban development in Poznań. Today, lush with trees and other greenery from its famously fertile black soil, and conveniently close to the city centre, Rataje has transformed from a bleak communist-era housing estate into a welcoming residential neighbourhood.

The latest exhibition at the Poznań Fotoplastykon showcases the architecture of the so-called lower terrace of Rataje (including the Piastowskie, Jagiellońskie, Oświecenia, Rzeczypospolitej, Bohaterów II Wojny Światowej, Powstań Narodowych, and Armii Krajowej estates) and the lives of its former residents.
In today's usage, the term Rataje commonly encompasses not just the historic Rataje settlement but also the villages of Chartowo and Żegrze, both annexed to Poznań in 1940, later developed into housing estates in the 1970s and 1980s, forming the so-called upper terrace of Rataje.

The photographs featured here come from the photo collection available on the cyryl.poznan.pl portal and the archives of the Osiedle Młodych Housing Cooperative, Town Hall: Museum of Poznań, Posnania Municipal Publishing House, Raczyński Library, and Poznań Branch of State Archive.

translation: Krzysztof Kotkowski

"Rataje: From Rural Settlements to Prefabricated Concrete-Slab Estates" - an exhibition in the Poznań Fotoplastykon
Centrum Informacji Kulturalnej (Cultural Information Centre), ul. F. Ratajczaka 44
5.05. - 31.07.2025; opening hours: Monday - Friday 10 am - 6 pm, Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Sunday and holidays closed, last admission 1 hour before closing time
tickets: regular admission - 6 pln, reduced admission - 3 pln, family tickets - 12 pln, group tickets (groups of 10 or more) - 25 pln

© Wydawnictwo Miejskie Posnania 2024