Outdoor model of Rataje in Poznań

The Rataj outdoor model was a concrete replica of the housing estates of the Lower and Upper Terraces of Rataj, located in the Piastowskie housing estate in Poznań, on the banks of the Warta River, near the Queen Jadwiga Bridge. It was created at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s as part of the Nadwarciański Park Kultury i Wypoczynku (Warta Riverside Park of Culture and Recreation), which opened in 1979. The model was designed as an architectural element intended to serve as a recreational attraction. In its heyday, it was a popular meeting place and playground for children, who played among the concrete blocks representing their neighborhoods. This cultural center not only attracted the local community but also served an educational function, allowing children to learn traffic rules—after the model was dismantled in the 1990s, a traffic education town was established in its place. Today, the asphalt slab remaining from the model still bears traces of the concrete elements that once shaped this space. In 2018, as part of the "Mozaika z pamięci" (Mosaic of Memories) project, a large-scale sentimental map of the Piastowskie estate was created on the same site, reminding residents of the past. The model remains an important part of Poznań's history, reflecting the local culture and architecture of the 1970s, and its legacy continues to shape the identity of the area.