Engineering Europe (2025) s01e06 Episode Script
Germany
1
[Narrator] These are the
engineering wonders of Poland,
their secrets revealed in a way
never seen before.
This forward-thinking
European nation
is fueled by rapid
economic growth
and a drive to connect
the nation like never before.
Engineers are reshaping
its cities and landscapes
with pioneering
infrastructure projects
and cutting-edge machines
built for the modern world.
In this series, we reveal
the secrets of the engineering
that built Europe's
great nations,
the wonders that shape its
cities, landscapes and history.
We reveal the astonishing
innovations
and surprising connections
that helped to forge
this mighty continent.
♪
♪
Poland sits in Central Europe,
on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
It has flat, forested plains
to the north
and mineral-rich mountains
to the south.
For much of modern history,
Poland was controlled
by invaders,
including Nazi Germany
and Soviet Russia.
Today, engineering innovation
is forging a new chapter
for the country.
It has one of
the fastest-growing economies
in Europe,
a burgeoning infrastructure,
and a passion to preserve
its engineering legacy
for future generations.
Across Poland, the country's
booming economy
has triggered a new wave
of groundbreaking
infrastructure projects.
♪
In the Middle Ages, Gdansk was
part of a powerful league
of merchant towns that tightly
controlled the shipping
of timber and grain
across the Baltic.
The city's medieval port crane
is the largest of its kind
surviving in Europe.
And in the 19th century,
a Polish engineer was
the co-inventor of arc welding,
which uses electricity
to melt and join metal.
Today in Gdansk,
a modern engineering marvel
aims to supercharge
shipping in Poland.
♪
This is the Baltic Hub
container terminal
in the port of Gdansk.
It's the largest container port
on the Baltic Sea.
It covers an area the size
of 120 football fields
and handles around 2.2 million
containers a year.
And it's about to get
even bigger.
Right next to
the existing docks,
a team of daring Polish
engineers is raising
a brand new 470 million-euro
terminal from the seafloor.
♪
The team uses
specialized dredgers
to remove around 7 million
cubic meters of sand
and soft sediment to form
a deep water harbor.
Then they form a box
from hundreds of steel piles,
which they anchor to the seabed.
Finally, they fill the box
with sand
and cover it with concrete.
This creates a 36-hectare
artificial island
with a 717-meter-long quay
and a water depth
of 17.5 meters.
When complete, this new
terminal will be able to handle
the largest cargo vessels
in the world.
[horn blows]
One of the project's biggest
engineering milestones
is to install the giant cranes.
These will load and offload
the container ships.
Four of the 96-meter-tall
cranes are already in place.
Now, the last three have been
slowly making their way
from a manufacturing yard
in China to the new dock.
The journey takes
an incredible two months
across multiple oceans,
so the enormous load
must be firmly fastened
with steel wires and chains.
♪
[Dominik Wróblewski]
The ship just arrived.
We are, since this morning,
start to preparing
the offloading procedure.
[Narrator] Dominik Wróblewski is
one of the lead engineers
coordinating
the terminal expansion.
[Dominik] So in the principle,
the offloading of the cranes
from the vessel,
it looks very simple.
But very simple
doesn't mean it's easy,
because we are dealing
with very heavy equipment.
The weight of the crane
is 2,000 ton.
[Narrator] The crew
first installs
specially designed ramps
with tracks.
They then use steel ropes
and winches to slowly pull
each crane off the ship,
one at a time.
[Dominik] The critical is when
the crane is half on the vessel
and half on the quay.
[Narrator] As the crane's weight
gradually shifts off the ship,
the crew must pump
ballast water into tanks
inside the hull to keep
the vessel stable.
Waves are now
a critical concern.
[Dominik] If we have a swell,
the vessel starts moving,
then the crane, if it's between
the vessel and the quay,
can start moving,
and can eventually,
in the worst case, collapse.
So that's why the operation
needs to be
on a very stable sea state.
[Narrator] Finally,
the rear of the crane
is safely off the ship.
[Dominik] So far,
we are going quite well.
The crane is fully at the quay,
preparing to be pulled out
into the permanent rail.
[Narrator]
Once it's operational,
the crane will be able to move
up and down the quay
on rails like a train.
Lifting the crane
into its new home
is no simple matter, though.
The team must first remove
the supports used for unloading
and carefully lower the crane
onto its own wheels.
Then they use two trucks to
slowly pull the steel giant
along the quay.
Both trucks need to maintain
exactly the same speed
to keep the crane
perfectly stable,
until it finally
touches down on its rail.
[clang]
Over the next few days,
the team offload and install
the remaining two mega cranes.
Gdansk's new terminal is
ready to start operating.
♪
In Katowice, the Spodek Stadium,
constructed in the 1970s, is an
icon of post-war architecture.
In the 1950s, in Warsaw, the
Palace of Culture and Science
was built to honor the Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin.
For 67 years, it remained the
tallest structure in Poland,
and a reminder of the country's
communist past.
Now in Warsaw,
a record-breaking new building
dwarfs Stalin's old palace.
♪
This is Varso Tower,
Poland's tallest building
and the tallest skyscraper
in the European Union.
This 53-story colossus rises
310 meters into the sky,
a striking symbol of both
Warsaw and Poland's
modern economic growth.
But building something this big
in the dense heart
of the capital
was a serious
engineering challenge.
[Maciej Olczyk] We are located
in the city center,
so it's obviously
very busy place.
And for that purpose,
we had to plan very thoroughly
the logistics of this project.
[Narrator] The groundwork for
the project begins in 2016
with a vast foundation pit.
The tower's central location
means it's surrounded
by buildings and busy roads.
With such a tight footprint,
space on site is at a premium.
And the team needs to work fast.
Prefabrication is
the key to speed.
The team builds the backbone
of the tower
using concrete pouring
technology.
Then they attach prefabricated
glass and steel panels
to build a gleaming facade.
They push Varso Tower up to
230 meters in just three years,
making it the second tallest
building in Poland.
The new skyscraper is now
just seven meters shy
of its neighbor, the Palace
of Culture and Science.
But the team isn't finished yet.
[Narrator] In this workshop
in Silesia province,
over 300 kilometers
away from Warsaw,
engineers construct
an 80-meter-long spire
to sit on top of Varso Tower
and elevate it to
a record-breaking height.
They make it in segments, each
weighing roughly four tons.
A fleet of articulated lorries
transports each piece
through the city at night,
when the roads are quiet.
At daybreak, the crew uses
a specially designed crane
anchored to the roof.
It carefully lifts each piece
up to the very top
of the building
where daredevil engineers
are ready and waiting
to guide each section
into place by hand.
[Maciej] The most challenging
moment in installation
of the spire was the last pieces
on the very top of the spike,
because we had to find the
proper time there was no wind,
because otherwise
we could have collision
between the crane
and the steel structure.
[Narrator]
With the final piece secured,
Varso Tower reaches
its full height,
soaring above
the Warsaw skyline.
Today, the tower is
the pride of the city,
and twice a year,
a team of daring cleaners
ensures it stays
at its gleaming best,
a potent symbol of modern Poland
and its status as a thriving
European nation.
♪
A surge of large-scale
infrastructure projects
across Poland is transforming
how the country is connected.
In Gdansk, the Vistula Spit
has a new canal,
creating fresh shipping routes
that run into the heart
of the country.
In Warsaw, engineers are
doubling the size
of the capital's metro.
Now, engineers are gearing up
for their biggest venture yet.
An ambitious new rail project
seeks to connect Warsaw
to the rest of the country,
including the historic city
of Lódz.
♪
Set to be completed in 2035,
the CPK transport hub
will see hundreds of kilometers
of new high-speed
rail lines built.
They will link existing
networks and converge
on a new
state-of-the-art airport
being built between
Lódz and Warsaw.
It is here, in Lódz,
that this ambitious
engineering project begins.
[Agnieszka Stefanska-Krasowska]
We are making the future,
we are not history.
We are building the future
for the next generation.
[Narrator] Lódz was
a textile powerhouse
during
the Industrial Revolution.
It is now one of the country's
fastest-growing cities.
And with CPK, a high-speed
railway tunnel
will soon run up to 34 meters
beneath its center.
The longest tunnel
of its kind in Poland.
Before tunnel excavations begin,
engineers need to safeguard
Lódz's precious historical
buildings from collapse.
♪
This is Lódz House of Culture,
a listed historic building
from the 1930s.
It sits right next to
a busy train station
and the new high-speed
rail tunnel
will run directly beneath it.
Without stronger foundations,
the building could collapse
during the tunnel's
construction.
To save the House of Culture,
engineers are first installing
temporary rods
called micropiles,
which act like stilts,
supporting the building
so the tunnelling can start.
Geotechnical specialist
Wojciech Smolen
is overseeing the works.
[Wojciech Smolen] During my
experience, during my career,
I have already worked many years
with those technologies,
but I haven't used it
on a scale like here.
[Narrator] 360 carefully
positioned micropiles
will reach up to
26.5 meters deep
under the House of Culture.
They will support
the structure's weight
while the team first casts
a stronger new foundation
for the building.
They can then safely excavate
the tunnel chamber,
removing the micropiles
as they go,
to make way for the train line
that will run through it
in seven years' time.
♪
[Wojciech] We are checking
if the micropile,
if the machine is
for sure vertically,
because it's very important.
The micropile is
designed to bear load
only in its vertical position.
When it's inclined, the forces
working on the micropile
are different.
[Narrator] Space inside
the building is tight.
So workers must split
each 12-meter steel pile
into six two-meter segments,
so they can squeeze them
below the ceiling.
The team then screws
the sections together
as they drill down,
piece by piece.
[Wojciech] The most challenging
thing about this work
is that we are working in a very
limited space with big machines.
[Narrator] It takes all day
to fit 18 pile segments
into the foundations
of the House of Culture.
[Wojciech] Today we finished
three piles, micropiles,
so it's a very good result
for a shift.
[Narrator] With the cultural
center secure,
Lódz and the rest of Poland can
look forward to a future
of high-speed rail for all.
Currently, it takes
one and a half hours
to drive from Lódz to Warsaw.
The new rail line will cut
this time to just 40 minutes.
It will also slash journeys
to Poznan and Wroclaw,
connecting these vital
business hubs.
The CPK project is set to cost
around 30.8 billion euros
and take 10 years to complete.
But this investment
could revolutionize
the nation's connectivity.
♪
Polish engineers not only
innovate in infrastructure,
but are masters of architecture.
♪
♪
Poland's climate swings
between scorching summers
and freezing winters.
Engineers here must build
for these extremes.
High in
the Karkonosze Mountains,
the saucer-like
Sniezka Observatory
is designed to endure
fierce winds.
On the rocky outcrop
of Niedzica-Zamek,
medieval builders engineered
their castle's
thick stone walls
to insulate in winter
and keep cool in summer.
In Zakopane, one extraordinary
feat of engineering
rises from the snow each year.
This is the remarkable
construction site
of Snowlandia, a vast and
extraordinary snow maze.
Every winter
for the last decade,
engineers have built this
frozen wonder from scratch
to thrill visitors
to one of Poland's
most popular ski resorts.
[Narrator] It takes thousands
of tons of snow
to construct the up to
three-meter-high walls.
When complete,
its twisting corridors
stretch up to a kilometer long.
This marvel of snow architecture
is the brainchild of Zakopane
local Jaroslaw Sitarz.
[speaking Polish]
[Jaroslaw Sitarz, translated]
I'm associated with winter,
with snow, basically
from birth, from a child,
because my dad built the first
ski lift here in the '70s.
[Narrator] The team designs the
maze in a new pattern each year
and uses special molds
to shape its walls.
[Jaroslaw] This year
we have 119 passages
and 85 transverse walls.
There are thousands of tons
of snow to dump, to form.
It's not easy either, because
there's a lot of time pressure.
[Narrator] Each winter is
a waiting game
for the temperature to dip
below zero degrees,
the perfect conditions
for maze-making.
This is when Jaroslaw's team
springs into action,
deploying a fleet of four
heavy-duty snow machines.
First, they create
huge piles of snow.
Then they use
high-powered snow blowers
to fill the custom-made molds,
shaping the labyrinth's walls
one section at a time.
Their most powerful machine
spits out
1,300 tons of snow per hour.
♪
Each wall requires
the equivalent
of around nine
truckloads of snow.
Workers climb on top of
the walls as they fill them
to distribute the snow evenly
and compact it with shovels.
This forces the snow crystals
closer together,
squeezing out any air
trapped between them,
increasing the density and
making the snow walls stronger.
[Jaroslaw] Well, we try
every year to improve, modify,
build more and more solidly,
so that it can last
as long as possible.
[Narrator] Once the long
vertical walls are solid
♪
the team carve the
intersections through the maze.
They use powerful chainsaws,
with blades over a meter long,
to slice the ice away,
block by block.
♪
Beside the main labyrinth,
the team is also building
a series of igloos
where adventurers
can explore a winter wonderland.
♪
They hold 11 chambers with
intricately carved sculptures.
Each sculpture can take
up to two days
to carve from the snow and ice.
At the maze construction site,
the team builds the dead ends,
positioned to catch out players
as they turn the corners.
Five days later,
the maze transforms
into a dense labyrinth
of twists and turns,
and excited families queue up
to try their luck
at Poland's famous puzzle.
[Jaroslaw] My pride is huge,
due to the fact
that guests can visit us
not only from Poland,
but actually from
all over the world.
♪
[Narrator] The south of
the country was the center
of the late medieval
Kingdom of Poland,
and is now home to some of its
most historical
architectural wonders.
St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków,
with its distinctive
asymmetrical towers,
is filled with detailed
Gothic designs.
The thousand-year-old
Wawel Castle complex
was the seat of the king.
It was built over many centuries
and features an eclectic mix
of architectural styles.
Just outside Kraków,
a structure of extraordinary
scale lies hidden from view.
[Narrator] This is the town
of Wieliczka,
14 kilometers from Kraków.
On the surface, nothing appears
out of the ordinary.
But hidden deep
beneath the streets
lies an engineering wonder,
one of the world's largest
historical salt mines.
[crunch]
For more than 700 years,
miners excavated
around 9 million
cubic meters of earth,
rock, and salt, creating
a secret subterranean city.
Nine layers of countless
shafts, tunnels, and chambers
spread 245 kilometers
under the ground,
reaching 327 meters deep.
♪
Today, Wieliczka's salt mine
is no longer active,
but its immense scale attracts
over a million visitors a year.
They come to explore
its winding corridors
and take in hidden structures
carved more recently
within the mine's salt caverns.
The extraordinary wonders
include a chapel
where the altar, statues,
and even the chandeliers
are carved entirely from salt.
To stabilize these vast caverns,
nine levels below the ground,
miners built
meticulously engineered
wooden support towers.
Remarkably, many have remained
intact for centuries.
But with its corridors
and chambers
under constant pressure
from the surrounding rock,
ongoing engineering is essential
to safeguard the caverns
from collapse.
♪
Kamil Broniowski leads
the morning shift
[bell rings]
in tunnels strictly
off-limits to visitors.
Around 400 miners like Kamil
still work
around the clock here,
maintaining the vast network
of tunnels and chambers.
Because the town above is
at risk if the caverns cave in.
♪
[Kamil Broniowski] The pressure
wants to crush the chambers,
crush the tunnels.
Eventually,
the mine will collapse.
[Narrator] This tunnel
on the fourth level
shows critical signs of decay
and needs urgent support.
[Kamil] This rock
is quite loose.
You can see a lot of it
is falling off the wall
as I just gently scratch it.
[drilling]
[Narrator] Kamil's team use
pneumatic drills
to clear away
the weathered rock.
♪
Now they can fit the supports.
[bell rings]
The mine is
a World Heritage Site,
so engineers must use
the materials and techniques
of their forefathers,
hundreds of years ago,
to preserve this secret wonder.
They take logs harvested
from local forests
and transport them down
the narrow vertical shaft.
Old locomotive lines
help propel them
through the winding
underground network
to the construction site
where they shape them to size
and slot the supports
into place.
They install a support beam
every one meter
and slot wooden planks
in between
to secure the walls and ceiling.
The engineering work here
is so vital,
it carries on 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
♪
It takes the team a day
to shore up just a single meter
of the mine's 245 kilometers
of tunnels.
[Kamil] The mine is very special
to the local community.
It's a very important monument
of history of our country.
Working here is
a very large privilege,
because you are part
of this history.
♪
[Narrator] Over 30% of Poland
is forested.
This shaped a legacy
of using timber to build
astonishing wooden structures
across the country.
In Kwiatoniu,
the 17th century-old
Orthodox Church
has layered spires
and intricate carpentry.
And in Swidnica, the Holy
Trinity Church of Peace
is the largest wooden
Baroque temple in Europe.
Hidden in the quiet town
of Gliwice
stands a record-breaking
wonder of wooden engineering.
[Narrator] This is
Gliwice Radio Tower.
Soaring 111 meters high,
it's Europe's tallest
wooden structure.
The tower is made
from Siberian larch,
known for its exceptional
strength and durability.
Wood beams are laid
in a lattice pattern
and secured with thousands
of brass bolts.
This Silesian Eiffel Tower was
constructed in the mid 1930s.
It is one of the only surviving
wooden radio transmitters
from its era.
And its incredible height
means it's still in use today
as a mobile phone antenna.
♪
It's thanks to Polish
conservation specialists
that the tower
still stands today.
Twice a year, they make
the 111-meter climb
to inspect its condition
and make critical repairs.
[Narrator] Andrzej Wnuk is in
charge of the daring operation.
[Andrzej Wnuk, translated] This
tower is a symbol of Gliwice.
It's certainly very gratifying
that we managed to maintain it
for so long, and we continue
to keep it in good condition.
[Narrator] The team attaches
their safety equipment
and then begins the long ascent
to the top.
♪
[Narrator] The exhausting climb
takes 30 minutes.
[Narrator] The conservators
are on a mission
to remove the tower's
medium-wave antenna,
which is now out of use.
The antenna is 100 meters long
and made from metal
with a rubber casing.
[Narrator] The team cut it
into manageable sections
to safely lower it to the floor.
By removing the antenna,
they take unnecessary weight
off the wooden structure.
♪
In the early 1930s,
radio towers were often
built from wood.
Wood was plentiful and cheap,
and the enormous
heights required
were most easily achieved
with a wooden lattice design.
♪
The downside, though,
was the risk of fire.
♪
As the team continues
to cut down the old antenna,
experienced climber
Aleksandra Pietrakowska
ascends to the tower's peak.
[Aleksandra Pietrakowska,
translated] I think what drives
me the most in this job
is adrenaline, challenges,
taking the next step,
proving to yourself
that a person can cope,
that you just need
to calmly approach it.
♪
[Narrator] A bolt has broken
on the tower's lightning rod,
so Aleksandra must replace it
with a historically
accurate replica.
Keeping the lightning rod
securely in place
is crucial to prevent
the wooden skyscraper
from catching fire if
it gets struck by lightning.
♪
♪
[Narrator]
It's a great team effort.
Aleksandra and her colleagues
successfully replace
the new bolt and reattach
the lightning rod.
The town of Gliwice
and the surrounding
Silesian countryside
stretches out for miles
around them.
[Andrzej] There were experts
who claimed that the tower
only had a dozen years left.
That was 25 years ago,
and it's still standing.
[Narrator] Thanks to the work
of Andrzej and his team,
this engineering icon
of the Polish landscape
will survive for
generations to come.
♪
Over the centuries, Polish
engineers have not only
innovated in architecture
and infrastructure,
they've also built
extraordinary machines.
♪
Modern Polish engineers
are pushing innovation
to spectacular new heights to
draw visitors to the country.
In the Sudeten Mountains,
the spiraling Skywalk Tower
lifts thrill-seekers
62 meters above the treetops.
In Lódz, the EC1 is
a science center
built in the heart of a former
industrial power station.
Now in the northwestern region
of West Pomerania,
a bold new theme park
is aiming to become
the next destination
on Poland's tourism map.
The landscape between Warsaw
and the Baltic coast
is a patchwork of arable fields.
But this traditional
farming area
is gearing up for a boost from
a wonder of modern engineering.
This is the construction site
of Pomerania's brand new
Hossoland theme park.
Engineers here are building
50 attractions
across four themed sectors
that are inspired by Baltic
legends and fairy tales.
Once complete, this
multimillion-euro complex
will be among the largest
theme parks in Europe.
[Anna Olszonowicz, translated]
There has never been such
a project here
in West Pomerania.
[Narrator] The most challenging
part of the construction
is Hossoland's three
mighty roller coasters.
The gravity-defying
Aurora coaster is the largest.
It has a 400-meter-long track
that launches passengers
up to 20 meters into the air.
♪
Workers manufacture the sections
of the roller coaster off-site
and they bolt together
at the park, like a flat pack,
to speed up construction.
The pieces will only fit
if they all sit
in perfect alignment,
like a 3D jigsaw.
[Narrator] Engineer
Michal Demski is overseeing
the nerve-racking assembly.
[Michal Demski, translated]
We have the closure
of the highest point
on our coaster.
According to the design,
everything should fit perfectly.
[Narrator] At the Hossoland
theme park
[Narrator] the team wrestles
the roller coaster segment
into the gap.
Then they hammer
the bolts into place.
When the park opens, a train
of 10 suspended carriages
will race along these tracks at
up to 50 kilometers per hour.
It can weigh up to 10 tons
when packed with
thrill-seeking passengers,
so the structural integrity
of the roller coaster
is paramount.
They carefully fine-tune
the alignment,
so the ride runs
as smoothly as possible.
[Narrator] As the track
specialists bolt the segments
together, construction across
the grounds is in full swing.
Workers are busy assembling
the remaining
large-scale structures and
adding the finishing touches
to the park's 130 sculptures.
♪
20 meters above,
at the Aurora roller coaster,
the installation of the track
segment is complete.
[Michal] First, I'm waiting
to do a test drive,
and then I can't wait
to open the park
when the guests are here
and watch the first reactions.
[Narrator] Soon, this whole area
will be filled
with thrill-seekers from
all over Poland and beyond,
ready to experience these
hair-raising new attractions.
Poland has a long history of
creating groundbreaking ways
to cross the country's
rugged landscape.
Polish engineers designed
one of Europe's
first high-altitude cable cars.
The Elblag Canal uses
19th century
water-powered machinery
to haul boats uphill on tracks.
In Mecina, engineers are using
an ingenious machine
to build a record-breaking
new tunnel.
This is the site
of one of Poland's
most ambitious railway projects.
[Mateusz Wanat, translated]
This is a very big undertaking
that our country
has not yet faced.
Never in the history
of the construction
of both road and rail
infrastructure.
[Narrator] When complete,
the new route will link
Poland's second
largest city, Kraków,
to the beauty of
the Carpathian mountain range.
But to make the connection,
the team must rebuild
the railway lines running
through the mountains.
They'll have to dig
20 new tunnels,
and one of them will be nearly
four kilometers long,
the longest rail tunnel
in Poland.
The biggest problem with digging
the record-breaking tunnel is
the region's fragile bedrock,
which risks collapse.
So engineers are racing
to assemble a colossal machine
that will reinforce
the tunnel walls as it digs.
♪
This tunnel excavating machine
is one of the largest
of its kind
ever used on Polish soil.
A large cutter head spins
at the front of the machine,
to burrow through
at up to 30 meters per day.
As it digs, precast concrete
panels are fed
into the back of the machine,
and it presses them
onto the walls
to stop the tunnel
from collapsing.
The most crucial stage
of the machine assembly
is fitting the enormous
245-ton cutter head.
[Marcin Curkowicz, translated]
The wind is going
to play a big role.
Even the smallest mistake
could throw everything off.
[Narrator] The team uses two
monster 600-ton-capacity cranes
to raise the cutter head
from the ground.
Then they slowly start
to move it across the site
towards its final position
at the front
of the tunnel-digging machine.
♪
[creaking]
Finally, once the cutter head
is in position
above the machine,
the most complex phase
of the operation begins.
With just two meters
of clearance
between the machine
and the tunnel entrance,
the crane operators lower
the cutter head into place
with extreme precision.
♪
It takes several hours
of painstaking work
to position the cutter head,
and the team can at last
prepare the bolts
for the final fix.
[Marcin] Even though the wind
picked up at times
during the cutter head
connection,
it didn't disrupt us,
and I think the whole team
can be proud of what
we achieved today.
[Narrator] Over the next
10 months,
the machine will dig the nearly
four-kilometer tunnel.
When complete, travelers
on this new rail line
will be able to reach
the breathtaking towns
and ski resorts in Poland's
Carpathian Mountains
in record time.
Poland is a modern
European nation
that's forging a bright
and vibrant future.
Its booming economy continues
to fuel innovation,
taking European engineering
to ever greater heights.
♪
♪
[Narrator] These are the
engineering wonders of Poland,
their secrets revealed in a way
never seen before.
This forward-thinking
European nation
is fueled by rapid
economic growth
and a drive to connect
the nation like never before.
Engineers are reshaping
its cities and landscapes
with pioneering
infrastructure projects
and cutting-edge machines
built for the modern world.
In this series, we reveal
the secrets of the engineering
that built Europe's
great nations,
the wonders that shape its
cities, landscapes and history.
We reveal the astonishing
innovations
and surprising connections
that helped to forge
this mighty continent.
♪
♪
Poland sits in Central Europe,
on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
It has flat, forested plains
to the north
and mineral-rich mountains
to the south.
For much of modern history,
Poland was controlled
by invaders,
including Nazi Germany
and Soviet Russia.
Today, engineering innovation
is forging a new chapter
for the country.
It has one of
the fastest-growing economies
in Europe,
a burgeoning infrastructure,
and a passion to preserve
its engineering legacy
for future generations.
Across Poland, the country's
booming economy
has triggered a new wave
of groundbreaking
infrastructure projects.
♪
In the Middle Ages, Gdansk was
part of a powerful league
of merchant towns that tightly
controlled the shipping
of timber and grain
across the Baltic.
The city's medieval port crane
is the largest of its kind
surviving in Europe.
And in the 19th century,
a Polish engineer was
the co-inventor of arc welding,
which uses electricity
to melt and join metal.
Today in Gdansk,
a modern engineering marvel
aims to supercharge
shipping in Poland.
♪
This is the Baltic Hub
container terminal
in the port of Gdansk.
It's the largest container port
on the Baltic Sea.
It covers an area the size
of 120 football fields
and handles around 2.2 million
containers a year.
And it's about to get
even bigger.
Right next to
the existing docks,
a team of daring Polish
engineers is raising
a brand new 470 million-euro
terminal from the seafloor.
♪
The team uses
specialized dredgers
to remove around 7 million
cubic meters of sand
and soft sediment to form
a deep water harbor.
Then they form a box
from hundreds of steel piles,
which they anchor to the seabed.
Finally, they fill the box
with sand
and cover it with concrete.
This creates a 36-hectare
artificial island
with a 717-meter-long quay
and a water depth
of 17.5 meters.
When complete, this new
terminal will be able to handle
the largest cargo vessels
in the world.
[horn blows]
One of the project's biggest
engineering milestones
is to install the giant cranes.
These will load and offload
the container ships.
Four of the 96-meter-tall
cranes are already in place.
Now, the last three have been
slowly making their way
from a manufacturing yard
in China to the new dock.
The journey takes
an incredible two months
across multiple oceans,
so the enormous load
must be firmly fastened
with steel wires and chains.
♪
[Dominik Wróblewski]
The ship just arrived.
We are, since this morning,
start to preparing
the offloading procedure.
[Narrator] Dominik Wróblewski is
one of the lead engineers
coordinating
the terminal expansion.
[Dominik] So in the principle,
the offloading of the cranes
from the vessel,
it looks very simple.
But very simple
doesn't mean it's easy,
because we are dealing
with very heavy equipment.
The weight of the crane
is 2,000 ton.
[Narrator] The crew
first installs
specially designed ramps
with tracks.
They then use steel ropes
and winches to slowly pull
each crane off the ship,
one at a time.
[Dominik] The critical is when
the crane is half on the vessel
and half on the quay.
[Narrator] As the crane's weight
gradually shifts off the ship,
the crew must pump
ballast water into tanks
inside the hull to keep
the vessel stable.
Waves are now
a critical concern.
[Dominik] If we have a swell,
the vessel starts moving,
then the crane, if it's between
the vessel and the quay,
can start moving,
and can eventually,
in the worst case, collapse.
So that's why the operation
needs to be
on a very stable sea state.
[Narrator] Finally,
the rear of the crane
is safely off the ship.
[Dominik] So far,
we are going quite well.
The crane is fully at the quay,
preparing to be pulled out
into the permanent rail.
[Narrator]
Once it's operational,
the crane will be able to move
up and down the quay
on rails like a train.
Lifting the crane
into its new home
is no simple matter, though.
The team must first remove
the supports used for unloading
and carefully lower the crane
onto its own wheels.
Then they use two trucks to
slowly pull the steel giant
along the quay.
Both trucks need to maintain
exactly the same speed
to keep the crane
perfectly stable,
until it finally
touches down on its rail.
[clang]
Over the next few days,
the team offload and install
the remaining two mega cranes.
Gdansk's new terminal is
ready to start operating.
♪
In Katowice, the Spodek Stadium,
constructed in the 1970s, is an
icon of post-war architecture.
In the 1950s, in Warsaw, the
Palace of Culture and Science
was built to honor the Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin.
For 67 years, it remained the
tallest structure in Poland,
and a reminder of the country's
communist past.
Now in Warsaw,
a record-breaking new building
dwarfs Stalin's old palace.
♪
This is Varso Tower,
Poland's tallest building
and the tallest skyscraper
in the European Union.
This 53-story colossus rises
310 meters into the sky,
a striking symbol of both
Warsaw and Poland's
modern economic growth.
But building something this big
in the dense heart
of the capital
was a serious
engineering challenge.
[Maciej Olczyk] We are located
in the city center,
so it's obviously
very busy place.
And for that purpose,
we had to plan very thoroughly
the logistics of this project.
[Narrator] The groundwork for
the project begins in 2016
with a vast foundation pit.
The tower's central location
means it's surrounded
by buildings and busy roads.
With such a tight footprint,
space on site is at a premium.
And the team needs to work fast.
Prefabrication is
the key to speed.
The team builds the backbone
of the tower
using concrete pouring
technology.
Then they attach prefabricated
glass and steel panels
to build a gleaming facade.
They push Varso Tower up to
230 meters in just three years,
making it the second tallest
building in Poland.
The new skyscraper is now
just seven meters shy
of its neighbor, the Palace
of Culture and Science.
But the team isn't finished yet.
[Narrator] In this workshop
in Silesia province,
over 300 kilometers
away from Warsaw,
engineers construct
an 80-meter-long spire
to sit on top of Varso Tower
and elevate it to
a record-breaking height.
They make it in segments, each
weighing roughly four tons.
A fleet of articulated lorries
transports each piece
through the city at night,
when the roads are quiet.
At daybreak, the crew uses
a specially designed crane
anchored to the roof.
It carefully lifts each piece
up to the very top
of the building
where daredevil engineers
are ready and waiting
to guide each section
into place by hand.
[Maciej] The most challenging
moment in installation
of the spire was the last pieces
on the very top of the spike,
because we had to find the
proper time there was no wind,
because otherwise
we could have collision
between the crane
and the steel structure.
[Narrator]
With the final piece secured,
Varso Tower reaches
its full height,
soaring above
the Warsaw skyline.
Today, the tower is
the pride of the city,
and twice a year,
a team of daring cleaners
ensures it stays
at its gleaming best,
a potent symbol of modern Poland
and its status as a thriving
European nation.
♪
A surge of large-scale
infrastructure projects
across Poland is transforming
how the country is connected.
In Gdansk, the Vistula Spit
has a new canal,
creating fresh shipping routes
that run into the heart
of the country.
In Warsaw, engineers are
doubling the size
of the capital's metro.
Now, engineers are gearing up
for their biggest venture yet.
An ambitious new rail project
seeks to connect Warsaw
to the rest of the country,
including the historic city
of Lódz.
♪
Set to be completed in 2035,
the CPK transport hub
will see hundreds of kilometers
of new high-speed
rail lines built.
They will link existing
networks and converge
on a new
state-of-the-art airport
being built between
Lódz and Warsaw.
It is here, in Lódz,
that this ambitious
engineering project begins.
[Agnieszka Stefanska-Krasowska]
We are making the future,
we are not history.
We are building the future
for the next generation.
[Narrator] Lódz was
a textile powerhouse
during
the Industrial Revolution.
It is now one of the country's
fastest-growing cities.
And with CPK, a high-speed
railway tunnel
will soon run up to 34 meters
beneath its center.
The longest tunnel
of its kind in Poland.
Before tunnel excavations begin,
engineers need to safeguard
Lódz's precious historical
buildings from collapse.
♪
This is Lódz House of Culture,
a listed historic building
from the 1930s.
It sits right next to
a busy train station
and the new high-speed
rail tunnel
will run directly beneath it.
Without stronger foundations,
the building could collapse
during the tunnel's
construction.
To save the House of Culture,
engineers are first installing
temporary rods
called micropiles,
which act like stilts,
supporting the building
so the tunnelling can start.
Geotechnical specialist
Wojciech Smolen
is overseeing the works.
[Wojciech Smolen] During my
experience, during my career,
I have already worked many years
with those technologies,
but I haven't used it
on a scale like here.
[Narrator] 360 carefully
positioned micropiles
will reach up to
26.5 meters deep
under the House of Culture.
They will support
the structure's weight
while the team first casts
a stronger new foundation
for the building.
They can then safely excavate
the tunnel chamber,
removing the micropiles
as they go,
to make way for the train line
that will run through it
in seven years' time.
♪
[Wojciech] We are checking
if the micropile,
if the machine is
for sure vertically,
because it's very important.
The micropile is
designed to bear load
only in its vertical position.
When it's inclined, the forces
working on the micropile
are different.
[Narrator] Space inside
the building is tight.
So workers must split
each 12-meter steel pile
into six two-meter segments,
so they can squeeze them
below the ceiling.
The team then screws
the sections together
as they drill down,
piece by piece.
[Wojciech] The most challenging
thing about this work
is that we are working in a very
limited space with big machines.
[Narrator] It takes all day
to fit 18 pile segments
into the foundations
of the House of Culture.
[Wojciech] Today we finished
three piles, micropiles,
so it's a very good result
for a shift.
[Narrator] With the cultural
center secure,
Lódz and the rest of Poland can
look forward to a future
of high-speed rail for all.
Currently, it takes
one and a half hours
to drive from Lódz to Warsaw.
The new rail line will cut
this time to just 40 minutes.
It will also slash journeys
to Poznan and Wroclaw,
connecting these vital
business hubs.
The CPK project is set to cost
around 30.8 billion euros
and take 10 years to complete.
But this investment
could revolutionize
the nation's connectivity.
♪
Polish engineers not only
innovate in infrastructure,
but are masters of architecture.
♪
♪
Poland's climate swings
between scorching summers
and freezing winters.
Engineers here must build
for these extremes.
High in
the Karkonosze Mountains,
the saucer-like
Sniezka Observatory
is designed to endure
fierce winds.
On the rocky outcrop
of Niedzica-Zamek,
medieval builders engineered
their castle's
thick stone walls
to insulate in winter
and keep cool in summer.
In Zakopane, one extraordinary
feat of engineering
rises from the snow each year.
This is the remarkable
construction site
of Snowlandia, a vast and
extraordinary snow maze.
Every winter
for the last decade,
engineers have built this
frozen wonder from scratch
to thrill visitors
to one of Poland's
most popular ski resorts.
[Narrator] It takes thousands
of tons of snow
to construct the up to
three-meter-high walls.
When complete,
its twisting corridors
stretch up to a kilometer long.
This marvel of snow architecture
is the brainchild of Zakopane
local Jaroslaw Sitarz.
[speaking Polish]
[Jaroslaw Sitarz, translated]
I'm associated with winter,
with snow, basically
from birth, from a child,
because my dad built the first
ski lift here in the '70s.
[Narrator] The team designs the
maze in a new pattern each year
and uses special molds
to shape its walls.
[Jaroslaw] This year
we have 119 passages
and 85 transverse walls.
There are thousands of tons
of snow to dump, to form.
It's not easy either, because
there's a lot of time pressure.
[Narrator] Each winter is
a waiting game
for the temperature to dip
below zero degrees,
the perfect conditions
for maze-making.
This is when Jaroslaw's team
springs into action,
deploying a fleet of four
heavy-duty snow machines.
First, they create
huge piles of snow.
Then they use
high-powered snow blowers
to fill the custom-made molds,
shaping the labyrinth's walls
one section at a time.
Their most powerful machine
spits out
1,300 tons of snow per hour.
♪
Each wall requires
the equivalent
of around nine
truckloads of snow.
Workers climb on top of
the walls as they fill them
to distribute the snow evenly
and compact it with shovels.
This forces the snow crystals
closer together,
squeezing out any air
trapped between them,
increasing the density and
making the snow walls stronger.
[Jaroslaw] Well, we try
every year to improve, modify,
build more and more solidly,
so that it can last
as long as possible.
[Narrator] Once the long
vertical walls are solid
♪
the team carve the
intersections through the maze.
They use powerful chainsaws,
with blades over a meter long,
to slice the ice away,
block by block.
♪
Beside the main labyrinth,
the team is also building
a series of igloos
where adventurers
can explore a winter wonderland.
♪
They hold 11 chambers with
intricately carved sculptures.
Each sculpture can take
up to two days
to carve from the snow and ice.
At the maze construction site,
the team builds the dead ends,
positioned to catch out players
as they turn the corners.
Five days later,
the maze transforms
into a dense labyrinth
of twists and turns,
and excited families queue up
to try their luck
at Poland's famous puzzle.
[Jaroslaw] My pride is huge,
due to the fact
that guests can visit us
not only from Poland,
but actually from
all over the world.
♪
[Narrator] The south of
the country was the center
of the late medieval
Kingdom of Poland,
and is now home to some of its
most historical
architectural wonders.
St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków,
with its distinctive
asymmetrical towers,
is filled with detailed
Gothic designs.
The thousand-year-old
Wawel Castle complex
was the seat of the king.
It was built over many centuries
and features an eclectic mix
of architectural styles.
Just outside Kraków,
a structure of extraordinary
scale lies hidden from view.
[Narrator] This is the town
of Wieliczka,
14 kilometers from Kraków.
On the surface, nothing appears
out of the ordinary.
But hidden deep
beneath the streets
lies an engineering wonder,
one of the world's largest
historical salt mines.
[crunch]
For more than 700 years,
miners excavated
around 9 million
cubic meters of earth,
rock, and salt, creating
a secret subterranean city.
Nine layers of countless
shafts, tunnels, and chambers
spread 245 kilometers
under the ground,
reaching 327 meters deep.
♪
Today, Wieliczka's salt mine
is no longer active,
but its immense scale attracts
over a million visitors a year.
They come to explore
its winding corridors
and take in hidden structures
carved more recently
within the mine's salt caverns.
The extraordinary wonders
include a chapel
where the altar, statues,
and even the chandeliers
are carved entirely from salt.
To stabilize these vast caverns,
nine levels below the ground,
miners built
meticulously engineered
wooden support towers.
Remarkably, many have remained
intact for centuries.
But with its corridors
and chambers
under constant pressure
from the surrounding rock,
ongoing engineering is essential
to safeguard the caverns
from collapse.
♪
Kamil Broniowski leads
the morning shift
[bell rings]
in tunnels strictly
off-limits to visitors.
Around 400 miners like Kamil
still work
around the clock here,
maintaining the vast network
of tunnels and chambers.
Because the town above is
at risk if the caverns cave in.
♪
[Kamil Broniowski] The pressure
wants to crush the chambers,
crush the tunnels.
Eventually,
the mine will collapse.
[Narrator] This tunnel
on the fourth level
shows critical signs of decay
and needs urgent support.
[Kamil] This rock
is quite loose.
You can see a lot of it
is falling off the wall
as I just gently scratch it.
[drilling]
[Narrator] Kamil's team use
pneumatic drills
to clear away
the weathered rock.
♪
Now they can fit the supports.
[bell rings]
The mine is
a World Heritage Site,
so engineers must use
the materials and techniques
of their forefathers,
hundreds of years ago,
to preserve this secret wonder.
They take logs harvested
from local forests
and transport them down
the narrow vertical shaft.
Old locomotive lines
help propel them
through the winding
underground network
to the construction site
where they shape them to size
and slot the supports
into place.
They install a support beam
every one meter
and slot wooden planks
in between
to secure the walls and ceiling.
The engineering work here
is so vital,
it carries on 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
♪
It takes the team a day
to shore up just a single meter
of the mine's 245 kilometers
of tunnels.
[Kamil] The mine is very special
to the local community.
It's a very important monument
of history of our country.
Working here is
a very large privilege,
because you are part
of this history.
♪
[Narrator] Over 30% of Poland
is forested.
This shaped a legacy
of using timber to build
astonishing wooden structures
across the country.
In Kwiatoniu,
the 17th century-old
Orthodox Church
has layered spires
and intricate carpentry.
And in Swidnica, the Holy
Trinity Church of Peace
is the largest wooden
Baroque temple in Europe.
Hidden in the quiet town
of Gliwice
stands a record-breaking
wonder of wooden engineering.
[Narrator] This is
Gliwice Radio Tower.
Soaring 111 meters high,
it's Europe's tallest
wooden structure.
The tower is made
from Siberian larch,
known for its exceptional
strength and durability.
Wood beams are laid
in a lattice pattern
and secured with thousands
of brass bolts.
This Silesian Eiffel Tower was
constructed in the mid 1930s.
It is one of the only surviving
wooden radio transmitters
from its era.
And its incredible height
means it's still in use today
as a mobile phone antenna.
♪
It's thanks to Polish
conservation specialists
that the tower
still stands today.
Twice a year, they make
the 111-meter climb
to inspect its condition
and make critical repairs.
[Narrator] Andrzej Wnuk is in
charge of the daring operation.
[Andrzej Wnuk, translated] This
tower is a symbol of Gliwice.
It's certainly very gratifying
that we managed to maintain it
for so long, and we continue
to keep it in good condition.
[Narrator] The team attaches
their safety equipment
and then begins the long ascent
to the top.
♪
[Narrator] The exhausting climb
takes 30 minutes.
[Narrator] The conservators
are on a mission
to remove the tower's
medium-wave antenna,
which is now out of use.
The antenna is 100 meters long
and made from metal
with a rubber casing.
[Narrator] The team cut it
into manageable sections
to safely lower it to the floor.
By removing the antenna,
they take unnecessary weight
off the wooden structure.
♪
In the early 1930s,
radio towers were often
built from wood.
Wood was plentiful and cheap,
and the enormous
heights required
were most easily achieved
with a wooden lattice design.
♪
The downside, though,
was the risk of fire.
♪
As the team continues
to cut down the old antenna,
experienced climber
Aleksandra Pietrakowska
ascends to the tower's peak.
[Aleksandra Pietrakowska,
translated] I think what drives
me the most in this job
is adrenaline, challenges,
taking the next step,
proving to yourself
that a person can cope,
that you just need
to calmly approach it.
♪
[Narrator] A bolt has broken
on the tower's lightning rod,
so Aleksandra must replace it
with a historically
accurate replica.
Keeping the lightning rod
securely in place
is crucial to prevent
the wooden skyscraper
from catching fire if
it gets struck by lightning.
♪
♪
[Narrator]
It's a great team effort.
Aleksandra and her colleagues
successfully replace
the new bolt and reattach
the lightning rod.
The town of Gliwice
and the surrounding
Silesian countryside
stretches out for miles
around them.
[Andrzej] There were experts
who claimed that the tower
only had a dozen years left.
That was 25 years ago,
and it's still standing.
[Narrator] Thanks to the work
of Andrzej and his team,
this engineering icon
of the Polish landscape
will survive for
generations to come.
♪
Over the centuries, Polish
engineers have not only
innovated in architecture
and infrastructure,
they've also built
extraordinary machines.
♪
Modern Polish engineers
are pushing innovation
to spectacular new heights to
draw visitors to the country.
In the Sudeten Mountains,
the spiraling Skywalk Tower
lifts thrill-seekers
62 meters above the treetops.
In Lódz, the EC1 is
a science center
built in the heart of a former
industrial power station.
Now in the northwestern region
of West Pomerania,
a bold new theme park
is aiming to become
the next destination
on Poland's tourism map.
The landscape between Warsaw
and the Baltic coast
is a patchwork of arable fields.
But this traditional
farming area
is gearing up for a boost from
a wonder of modern engineering.
This is the construction site
of Pomerania's brand new
Hossoland theme park.
Engineers here are building
50 attractions
across four themed sectors
that are inspired by Baltic
legends and fairy tales.
Once complete, this
multimillion-euro complex
will be among the largest
theme parks in Europe.
[Anna Olszonowicz, translated]
There has never been such
a project here
in West Pomerania.
[Narrator] The most challenging
part of the construction
is Hossoland's three
mighty roller coasters.
The gravity-defying
Aurora coaster is the largest.
It has a 400-meter-long track
that launches passengers
up to 20 meters into the air.
♪
Workers manufacture the sections
of the roller coaster off-site
and they bolt together
at the park, like a flat pack,
to speed up construction.
The pieces will only fit
if they all sit
in perfect alignment,
like a 3D jigsaw.
[Narrator] Engineer
Michal Demski is overseeing
the nerve-racking assembly.
[Michal Demski, translated]
We have the closure
of the highest point
on our coaster.
According to the design,
everything should fit perfectly.
[Narrator] At the Hossoland
theme park
[Narrator] the team wrestles
the roller coaster segment
into the gap.
Then they hammer
the bolts into place.
When the park opens, a train
of 10 suspended carriages
will race along these tracks at
up to 50 kilometers per hour.
It can weigh up to 10 tons
when packed with
thrill-seeking passengers,
so the structural integrity
of the roller coaster
is paramount.
They carefully fine-tune
the alignment,
so the ride runs
as smoothly as possible.
[Narrator] As the track
specialists bolt the segments
together, construction across
the grounds is in full swing.
Workers are busy assembling
the remaining
large-scale structures and
adding the finishing touches
to the park's 130 sculptures.
♪
20 meters above,
at the Aurora roller coaster,
the installation of the track
segment is complete.
[Michal] First, I'm waiting
to do a test drive,
and then I can't wait
to open the park
when the guests are here
and watch the first reactions.
[Narrator] Soon, this whole area
will be filled
with thrill-seekers from
all over Poland and beyond,
ready to experience these
hair-raising new attractions.
Poland has a long history of
creating groundbreaking ways
to cross the country's
rugged landscape.
Polish engineers designed
one of Europe's
first high-altitude cable cars.
The Elblag Canal uses
19th century
water-powered machinery
to haul boats uphill on tracks.
In Mecina, engineers are using
an ingenious machine
to build a record-breaking
new tunnel.
This is the site
of one of Poland's
most ambitious railway projects.
[Mateusz Wanat, translated]
This is a very big undertaking
that our country
has not yet faced.
Never in the history
of the construction
of both road and rail
infrastructure.
[Narrator] When complete,
the new route will link
Poland's second
largest city, Kraków,
to the beauty of
the Carpathian mountain range.
But to make the connection,
the team must rebuild
the railway lines running
through the mountains.
They'll have to dig
20 new tunnels,
and one of them will be nearly
four kilometers long,
the longest rail tunnel
in Poland.
The biggest problem with digging
the record-breaking tunnel is
the region's fragile bedrock,
which risks collapse.
So engineers are racing
to assemble a colossal machine
that will reinforce
the tunnel walls as it digs.
♪
This tunnel excavating machine
is one of the largest
of its kind
ever used on Polish soil.
A large cutter head spins
at the front of the machine,
to burrow through
at up to 30 meters per day.
As it digs, precast concrete
panels are fed
into the back of the machine,
and it presses them
onto the walls
to stop the tunnel
from collapsing.
The most crucial stage
of the machine assembly
is fitting the enormous
245-ton cutter head.
[Marcin Curkowicz, translated]
The wind is going
to play a big role.
Even the smallest mistake
could throw everything off.
[Narrator] The team uses two
monster 600-ton-capacity cranes
to raise the cutter head
from the ground.
Then they slowly start
to move it across the site
towards its final position
at the front
of the tunnel-digging machine.
♪
[creaking]
Finally, once the cutter head
is in position
above the machine,
the most complex phase
of the operation begins.
With just two meters
of clearance
between the machine
and the tunnel entrance,
the crane operators lower
the cutter head into place
with extreme precision.
♪
It takes several hours
of painstaking work
to position the cutter head,
and the team can at last
prepare the bolts
for the final fix.
[Marcin] Even though the wind
picked up at times
during the cutter head
connection,
it didn't disrupt us,
and I think the whole team
can be proud of what
we achieved today.
[Narrator] Over the next
10 months,
the machine will dig the nearly
four-kilometer tunnel.
When complete, travelers
on this new rail line
will be able to reach
the breathtaking towns
and ski resorts in Poland's
Carpathian Mountains
in record time.
Poland is a modern
European nation
that's forging a bright
and vibrant future.
Its booming economy continues
to fuel innovation,
taking European engineering
to ever greater heights.
♪
♪