View of Chrobry Embankment

A significant change in the architecture of Szczecin at the beginning of the 20th century was connected to constructing an extensive viewing terrace, which was also a harbour for passenger ships. The representative urban and architectural undertaking quickly became a landmark of the city and a place eagerly visited by tourists. It was built between 1901 and 1921 thanks to the efforts of Mayor Hermann Haken (1828-1916), after whom the whole complex was named Hakenterrasse (today's Wały Chrobrego). In the complex of buildings, prestigious municipal institutions were situated in representative edifices. The central quarter was occupied by, among others, the building of the City Museum (Stadtmuseum), built under the supervision of Wilhelm Meyer Schwartau (1854-1935), a Szczecin building advisor. Hakenterasse became a frequent painting motif also due to the needs of tourism. Souvenirs in the form of illustrated travel albums and individual prints showed notable buildings in the city. An etching by the Danish artist Axel Jensen (1885-?), created between 1913 and 1920, may have been a tourist illustration of this kind. Jensen came from Kjerteminde on the Funen Island and took drawing lessons from K. Zehrtmann and J. Rodh. In his youth, he made artistic journeys to Italy and France. He settled down in Copenhagen, where he was a landscape painter, portraitist and engraver of vedutas. His Szczecin print depicted a fragment of Hakenterasse with the museum and regency building as seen from a ship sailing away from the city. The etching is a relatively faithful reproduction of the motif known from the photograph, although certain architectural elements have been idealised for compositional purposes. The harbour on the Oder with passenger ships and tugboats moored there is shown below the building. In the warmer months, semi-open passenger steamers were a common sight on the river; they evidenced the city's development as a tourist destination and of a wealthy population for whom a cruise on the Oder became a valued pastime.

Małgorzata Peszko