Poznan
Encyclopedia
Poznań AUD is a city
on the Warta river in west-central Poland
, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be the first capital of the kingdom of Poland.
Poznań is now Poland's fifth largest city. It is the historical capital of the Wielkopolska ("Greater Poland") region, and is currently the administrative capital of the province called Greater Poland Voivodeship
.
Poznań is an important centre of trade, industry, and education, and hosts regular international trade fairs
. It was the host city for the United Nations Climate Change Conference
in December 2008, a key stage in the creation of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol
. Poznań was a candidate city for European Capital of Culture
in 2016.
participle poznan(y) – "one who is known/recognized") and would mean "Poznan's town". It is also possible that the name comes directly from the verb poznać, which means "to get to know" or "to recognize". It may simply mean "known town".
The earliest surviving references to the city are found in the chronicles of Thietmar of Merseburg
, written between 1012 and 1018: episcopus Posnaniensis ("bishop of Poznań", in an entry for 970) and ab urbe Posnani ("from the city of Poznań", for 1005). The city's name appears in documents in the Latin nominative case
as Posnania in 1236 and Poznania in 1247. The phrase in Poznan appears in 1146 and 1244.
The city's full official name is Stołeczne Miasto Poznań ("The Capital City of Poznań"), in reference to its role as a centre of political power in the early Polish state. Poznań is known as Posen in German
, and was officially called Haupt- und Residenzstadt Posen ("Capital and Residence City of Poznań") between 20 August 1910 and 28 November 1918. The Latin
names of the city are Posnania and Civitas Posnaniensis. Its Yiddish
name is פּױזן, or Poyzn.
The Russian
version of the name, Познань (Poznan'), is of feminine gender
, in contrast to the Polish name, which is masculine.
rivers, on what is now Ostrów Tumski
) was an important cultural and political centre of the Polan
tribe. Mieszko I
, the first historically recorded ruler of the Polans, and of the early Polish state which they dominated, built one of his main stable headquarters in Poznań. Mieszko's baptism
of 966, seen as a defining moment in the establishment of the Polish state, may have taken place in Poznań.
Following the baptism, construction began of Poznań's cathedral, the first in Poland. Poznań was probably the main seat of the first missionary bishop sent to Poland, Bishop Jordan. The Congress of Gniezno
in 1000 led to the country's first permanent archbishopric being established in Gniezno
(which is generally regarded as Poland's capital in that period), although Poznań continued to have independent bishops of its own. Poznań's cathedral was the place of burial of the early Piast monarchs (Mieszko I, Boleslaus I, Mieszko II, Casimir I
), and later of Przemysł I and King Przemysł II.
The pagan reaction
that followed Mieszko II's death (probably in Poznań) in 1034 left the region weak, and in 1038 Bretislaus I of Bohemia sacked and destroyed both Poznań and Gniezno. Poland was reunited under Casimir I the Restorer in 1039, but the capital was moved to Kraków
, which had been relatively unaffected by the troubles.
In 1138, by the testament of Bolesław III, Poland was divided into separate duchies under the late king's sons, and Poznań and its surroundings became the domain of Mieszko III the Old
, the first of the Dukes of Greater Poland. This period of fragmentation lasted until 1320. Duchies frequently changed hands; control of Poznań, Gniezno and Kalisz
sometimes lay with a single duke, but at other times these constituted separate duchies.
In about 1249, Duke Przemysł I began constructing what would become the Royal Castle
on a hill on the left bank of the Warta. Then in 1253 Przemysł issued a charter to Thomas of Guben
(Gubin) for the founding of a town under Magdeburg law, between the castle and the river. Thomas brought a large number of German settlers to aid in the building and settlement of the city – this is an example of the German eastern migration (Ostsiedlung
) characteristic of that period. The city (covering the area of today's Old Town
neighbourhood) was surrounded by a defensive wall, integrated with the castle.
In reunited Poland, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poznań was the seat of a voivodeship
. The city's importance began to grow in the Jagiellonian period, due to its position on trading routes from Lithuania
and Ruthenia
to western Europe. It would become a major centre for the fur trade by the late 16th century. Suburban settlements developed around the city walls, on the river islands and on the right bank, with some (Ostrów Tumski, Śródka, Chwaliszewo, Ostrówek) obtaining their own town charters. However the city's development was hampered by regular major fires and floods. On 2 May 1536 a blaze destroyed 175 buildings, including the castle, the town hall, the monastery and the suburban settlement called St. Martin. In 1519 the Lubrański Academy
had been established in Poznań as an institution of higher education (but without the right to award degrees, which was reserved to Kraków's Jagiellonian University
). However a Jesuits' college, founded in the city in 1571 during the Counter-Reformation
, had the right to award degrees from 1611 until 1773, when it was combined with the Academy.
In the second half of the 17th century and most of the eighteenth, Poznań was severely affected by a series of wars (and attendant military occupations, lootings and destruction) – the Second
and Third Northern Wars, the War of the Polish Succession
, the Seven Years' War
and the Bar Confederation
rebellion. It was also hit by frequent outbreaks of plague, and by floods, particularly that of 1736, which destroyed most of the suburban buildings. The population of the conurbation declined (from 20,000 around 1600 to 6,000 around 1730), and Bambergian and Dutch settlers (Bambrzy
and Olędrzy
) were brought in to rebuild the devastated suburbs. In 1778 a "Committee of Good Order" (Komisja Dobrego Porządku) was established in the city, which oversaw rebuilding efforts and reorganized the city's administration. However in 1793, in the Second Partition of Poland
, Poznań, came under the control of the Kingdom of Prussia
, becoming part of (and initially the seat of) the province of South Prussia
.
The Prussian authorities expanded the city boundaries, making the walled city and its closest suburbs into a single administrative unit. Left-bank suburbs were incorporated in 1797, and Ostrów Tumski, Chwaliszewo, Śródka
, Ostrówek and Łacina (St. Roch) in 1800. The old city walls were taken down in the early 19th century, and major development took place to the west of the old city, with many of the main streets of today's city centre being laid out.
In the Greater Poland Uprising of 1806, Polish soldiers and civilian volunteers assisted the efforts of Napoleon
by driving out Prussian forces from the region. The city became a part of the Duchy of Warsaw
in 1807, and was the seat of Poznań Department
- a unit of administrative division and local government. However in 1815, following the Congress of Vienna
, the region was returned to Prussia, and Poznań became the capital of the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen.
The city continued to expand, and various projects were funded by Polish philanthropists, such as the Raczyński Library and the Bazar hotel. The city's first railway, running to Stargard in Pommern (now Stargard Szczeciński
), opened in 1848. Due to its strategic location, the Prussian authorities intended to make Poznań into a fortress city, building a ring of defensive fortifications around it. Work began on the citadel (Fort Winiary) in 1828, and in subsequent years the entire set of defences (Festung Posen) was completed.
A Greater Poland Uprising during the Revolutions of 1848
was ultimately unsuccessful, and the Grand Duchy lost its remaining autonomy, Poznań becoming simply the capital of the Prussian Province of Posen
. It would become part of the German Empire
with the unification of German states
in 1871. Polish patriots continued to form societies (such as the Central Economic Society for the Grand Duchy of Poznań
), and a Polish theatre (Teatr Polski, still functioning) opened in 1875; however the authorities made efforts to Germanize the region, particularly through the Prussian Settlement Commission (founded 1886). Germans accounted for 38% of the city's population in 1867, though this percentage would later decline somewhat, particularly after the region returned to Poland.
Another expansion of Festung Posen was planned, with an outer ring of more widely spaced forts around the perimeter of the city. Building of the first nine forts began in 1876, and nine intermediate forts were built from 1887. The inner ring of fortifications was now considered obsolete and came to be mostly taken down by the early 20th century (although the citadel remained in use). This made space for further civilian construction, particularly the Imperial Palace
("Zamek"), completed 1910, and other grand buildings around it (including today's central university buildings and the opera house). The city's boundaries were also significantly extended to take in former suburban villages: Piotrowo and Berdychowo in 1896, Łazarz, Górczyn, Jeżyce and Wilda in 1900, and Sołacz in 1907.
After World War I
the Greater Poland Uprising
(1918–1919) brought Poznań and most of the region under Polish control, confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles
. The local populace had to acquire Polish citizenship or leave the country. This led to a significant decline of ethnic Germans, whose number decreased from 65,321 in 1910 to 5,980 in 1926 and further to 4,387 in 1934. In the interwar Second Polish Republic
, the city again became the capital of Poznań Voivodeship
. Poznań's university (today called Adam Mickiewicz University) was founded in 1919, and in 1925 the Poznań International Fairs began. In 1929 the fairs site was the venue for a major National Exhibition (Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa, popularly PeWuKa) marking the tenth anniversary of independence; it attracted around 4.5 million visitors. The city's boundaries were again expanded in 1925 (to include Główna, Komandoria, Rataje
, Starołęka, Dębiec, Szeląg and Winogrady) and 1933 (Golęcin, Podolany).
During the German occupation of 1939–1945, Poznań was incorporated into the Third Reich as the capital of Reichsgau Wartheland
. Many Polish inhabitants were executed, arrested, expelled to the General Government
or used as forced labour; at the same time many Germans and Volksdeutsche
were settled in the city. The pre-war Jewish population of about 2,000 were mostly murdered in the Holocaust. A concentration camp
for perceived enemies was set up in Fort VII
, one of the 19th-century perimeter forts (the camp was later moved to Żabikowo south of Poznań). The Nazi authorities significantly expanded Poznań's boundaries to include most of the present-day area of the city; these boundaries were retained after the war. Poznań fell to the Red Army
(assisted by Polish volunteers) on 23 February 1945 following the Battle of Poznań
, in which the German army conducted a last-ditch defence in line with Hitler's designation of the city as a Festung. The Citadel
was the last point to fall, and the fighting left much of the city (particularly the Old Town) in ruins.
Due to the expulsions of Germans from Polish territory (and the fact that many Germans had left as the Soviets advanced), Poznań's post-war population was almost uniformly Polish. The city again became a voivodeship capital; in 1950 the size of Poznań Voivodeship
was reduced, and the city itself was given separate voivodeship status. This status was lost in the 1975 reforms, which also significantly reduced the size of Poznań Voivodeship.
The Poznań 1956 protests
are seen as an early expression of resistance to communist rule. In June 1956, a protest by workers at the city's Cegielski locomotive factory developed into a series of strikes and popular protests against the policies of the government. After a protest march on June 28 was fired on, crowds attacked the communist party and secret police headquarters, where they were repulsed by fire. Riots continued for two days until being quelled by the army; 67 people were killed according to official figures.
The post-war years had seen much reconstruction work on buildings damaged in the fighting. From the 1960s onwards intensive housing development took place, consisting mainly of pre-fabricated concrete blocks of flats
, especially in Rataje
and Winogrady, and later (following its incorporation into the city in 1974) Piątkowo
. Another infrastructural change (completed in 1968) was the rerouting of the river Warta to follow two straight branches either side of Ostrów Tumski.
The most recent expansion of the city's boundaries took place in 1987, with the addition of new areas mainly to the north, including Morasko
, Radojewo and Kiekrz. The first free local elections following the fall of communism took place in 1990. With the Polish local government reforms of 1999, Poznań again became the capital of a larger province (Greater Poland Voivodeship
). It also became the seat of a powiat
("Poznań County
"), with the city itself gaining separate powiat status.
Recent infrastructural developments include the opening of the fast tram route (Poznański Szybki Tramwaj, popularly Pestka) in 1997, and Poznań's first motorway connection (part of the A2 autostrada
) in 2003. In 2006 Poland's first F-16 Fighting Falcons came to be stationed at the 31st Air Base
in Krzesiny in the south-east of the city.
Poznań continues to host regular trade fairs and international events, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference
. It is one of the planned host cities for the 2012 European Football Championship.
Poznań's main river is the Warta, which flows through the city from south to north. As it approaches the city centre it divides into two branches, flowing west and east of Ostrów Tumski
(the cathedral island) and meeting again further north. The smaller Cybina
river flows through eastern Poznań to meet the east branch of the Warta (that branch is also called Cybina – its northern section was originally a continuation of that river, while its southern section has been artificially widened to form a main stream of the Warta). Other tributaries of the Warta within Poznań are the Junikowo Stream (Strumień Junikowski), which flows through southern Poznań from the west, meeting the Warta just outside the city boundary in Luboń
; the Bogdanka and Wierzbak, formerly two separate tributaries flowing from the north-west and along the north side of the city centre, now with their lower sections diverted underground; the Główna, flowing through the neighbourhood of the same name in north-east Poznań; and the Rose Stream (Strumień Różany) flowing east from Morasko in the north of the city. The course of the Warta in central Poznań was formerly quite different than today: the main stream ran between Grobla and Chwaliszewo, which were originally both islands. The branch west of Grobla (the Zgniła Warta – "rotten Warta") was filled in late in the 19th century, and the former main stream west of Chwaliszewo was diverted and filled in during the 1960s. This was done partly to prevent floods, which did serious damage to Poznań frequently throughout history.
Poznań's largest lake is Jezioro Kierskie (Kiekrz Lake) in the extreme north-west of the city (within the city boundaries since 1987). Other large lakes include Malta
(an artificial lake on the lower Cybina, formed in 1952), Jezioro Strzeszyńskie (Strzeszyn Lake) on the Bogdanka, and Rusałka, an artificial lake further down the Bogdanka, formed in 1943. The latter two are popular bathing places. Kiekrz Lake is much used for sailing
, while Malta is a competitive rowing
and canoeing
venue.
The city centre (including the Old Town
, the former islands of Grobla and Chwaliszewo, the main street Święty Marcin
and many other important buildings and districts) lies on the west side of the Warta. Opposite it between the two branches of the Warta is Ostrów Tumski, containing Poznań Cathedral and other ecclesiatical buildings, as well as housing and industrial facilities. Facing the cathedral on the east bank of the river is the historic district of Śródka
. Large areas of apartment blocks, built from the 1960s onwards, include Rataje
in the east, and Winogrady and Piątkowo
north of the centre. Older residential and commercial districts include those of Wilda, Łazarz and Górczyn to the south, and Jeżyce to the west. There are also significant areas of forest within the city boundaries, particularly in the east adjoining Swarzędz
, and around the lakes in the north-west.
For more details on Poznań's geography, see the articles on the five districts: Stare Miasto, Nowe Miasto, Jeżyce, Grunwald and Wilda.
with relatively cold winters and fairly hot summers. Snow is common in winter, when night-time temperatures are typically below zero. In summer temperatures may often reach 30 °C (86 °F). Annual rainfall is less than 500 mm, among the lowest in Poland. The rainiest month is July, mainly due to short but intense cloudbursts and thunderstorms. The number of hours of sunshine is among the highest in the country.
s), each of which has its own elected council with certain decision-making and spending powers. The first uniform elections for these councils covering the whole area of the city were held on 20 March 2011.
For certain administrative purposes, the old division into five dzielnica
s is used (although these ceased to be governmental units in 1990). These were:
. Starting in the 19th century, local heavy industry began to grow. Several major factories were built, including the Hipolit Cegielski
steel mill and railway factory (see H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A.
).
Nowadays Poznań is one of the major trade centers in Poland. Poznań is regarded as the second most prosperous city in Poland after Warsaw
. The city of Poznań produced PLN 31.8 billion of Poland's gross domestic product
in 2006. The city also boasts a GDP per capita
of 200,4% (2008) of Poland's average. Furthermore, Poznań had very low unemployment rate of 2.3% as of May 2009. For comparison, Poland's national unemployment rate was over 10%.
Many Western European companies have established their Polish headquarters in Poznań, or in the nearby towns of Tarnowo Podgórne
and Swarzędz
. Most foreign investors are German
and Dutch
companies (see List of corporations in Poznań), along with a few others. Investors are mostly from the food processing, furniture, automotive and transport and logistics industries. Foreign companies are primarily attracted by low labour costs, but also by the relatively good road and railway network, good vocational skills of workers and relatively liberal employment laws.
The recently built Stary Browar
shopping center contains many high-end shops and is considered one of the best in Europe. Other notable shopping centers in the city include Galeria Malta, one of the largest in Central Europe
, and the shops at the Hotel Bazar, a historical hotel and commercial center in the Old Town.
Poznań has an extensive public transport system, consisting of trams (see Tramways in Poznań
, especially Poznański Szybki Tramwaj) and urban and suburban buses. The main railway station is Poznań Central Station
to the south-west of the city centre; there is also the smaller Poznań Wschód and Poznań Garbary station north-east of the centre, and a number of other stations on the outskirts of the city. The main east-west A2 motorway runs south of the city; other main roads run in the directions of Warsaw
, Bydgoszcz, Wągrowiec
, Oborniki
, Katowice
, Wrocław, Buk
and Berlin
. An intensive programme of road building and improvement in and around the city is underway in preparation for the hosting of matches in the Euro 2012 football championships. Poznań has also one of the biggest airports on the west of Poland called Poznań-Ławica Airport. In 2010 it handled approximately 1.5 million passengers.
– a tourist walk leading through the most important parts of the city showing its history, culture and identity.
Perhaps the most important cultural event in Poznań is the annual Malta theatre festival, which takes place at many city venues usually in late June and early July. It hosts mainly modern experimental off-theatre performances, often taking place on squares and other public spaces. It also includes cinema, visual, music and dancing events.
Classical music events include the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
(held every 5 years), and classical music concerts by the city's Philharmonic Orchestra held each month in the University Aula. Especially popular are concerts by the Poznań Nightingales
.
Every year on the 11th of November, Poznanians celebrate The Day of St. Marcin Street. A procession of horses, with St. Marcin at the head, parades along St Marcin Street, in front of The Imperial Castle. Everybody can eat delicious croissants, the regional product of Poznań.
Poznań hosted the 2009 European Young Adults Meeting of the ecumenical Christian Taizé Community
.
Poznań also stages the "Ale Kino!" International Young Audience Film Festival in December and the "Off Cinema" festival of independent films. Poznań has several cinemas, including both multiplex
es and smaller cinemas, an opera house and several other theatres, as well as museums.
The "Rozbrat" squat
serves not only as a home for squatters, but also as a centre of independent and open-minded culture. It hosts frequent gigs, as well as an anarchistic library, vernissages, exhibitions, annual birthday festival (each October), poetry evenings, graffiti festivals and so on.
The city centre has many clubs, pubs and coffee houses, mainly in the area of the Old Town.
and a number of smaller, mostly private-run colleges and institutions of higher education. Adam Mickiewicz University (abbreviated UAM in Polish, AMU in English) is one of the most influential and biggest universities in Poland:
in 1989, Poznań municipality and suburban area have invested heavily in infrastructure, especially public transport and administration. That results in a massive investment from foreign companies in Poznań as well as in communities west and south of Poznań (namely, Kórnik
and Tarnowo Podgórne
). One of the most important values of Poznań is the positive attitude of public administration towards investments, and less bureaucracy than elsewhere in Poland.
City investments into transportation were mostly into public transport. While the number of cars since 1989 has at least doubled, the policy of improving public transport gave good effects. Limiting car access to the city center, building new tram
lines (including Poznański Szybki Tramwaj) and investing in new rolling stock (such as modern Combino
trams by Siemens
and Solaris
low-floor buses) actually increased the level of ridership. This is a notable success, even considering the fact that Polish society only possesses about half of the "old EU"'s purchasing power, hence not everybody can afford to own a car.
Future investments into transportation include the construction of a third bypass of Poznań, and the completion of A2 (E30) motorway towards Berlin. New cycle lanes are being built, linking to existing ones, and an attempt is currently being made to develop a Karlsruhe
-style light rail
system for commuters. All this is made more complicated (and more expensive) by the heavy neglect of transport infrastructure throughout the Communist era.
Members of Sejm
elected in 2005 from Poznań constituency:
Members of European Parliament
elected from Poznań constituency:
with:
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
on the Warta river in west-central Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be the first capital of the kingdom of Poland.
Poznań is now Poland's fifth largest city. It is the historical capital of the Wielkopolska ("Greater Poland") region, and is currently the administrative capital of the province called Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
.
Poznań is an important centre of trade, industry, and education, and hosts regular international trade fairs
Poznan International Fair
The Poznań International Fair is the biggest industrial fair in Poland. It is held on the Poznań fairground in Poland. Poznań International Fair is located in the centre of the city opposite the main railway station - Poznań Główny, in the centre of Poland and in the centre of...
. It was the host city for the United Nations Climate Change Conference
2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place at PIF Congress Centre, Poznań International Fair , in Poznań, Poland, between December 1 and December 12, 2008...
in December 2008, a key stage in the creation of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
. Poznań was a candidate city for European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
in 2016.
Names
The name Poznań probably comes from a personal name Poznan (from the PolishPolish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
participle poznan(y) – "one who is known/recognized") and would mean "Poznan's town". It is also possible that the name comes directly from the verb poznać, which means "to get to know" or "to recognize". It may simply mean "known town".
The earliest surviving references to the city are found in the chronicles of Thietmar of Merseburg
Thietmar of Merseburg
Thietmar of Merseburg was a German chronicler who was also bishop of Merseburg.-Life:...
, written between 1012 and 1018: episcopus Posnaniensis ("bishop of Poznań", in an entry for 970) and ab urbe Posnani ("from the city of Poznań", for 1005). The city's name appears in documents in the Latin nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
as Posnania in 1236 and Poznania in 1247. The phrase in Poznan appears in 1146 and 1244.
The city's full official name is Stołeczne Miasto Poznań ("The Capital City of Poznań"), in reference to its role as a centre of political power in the early Polish state. Poznań is known as Posen in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and was officially called Haupt- und Residenzstadt Posen ("Capital and Residence City of Poznań") between 20 August 1910 and 28 November 1918. The Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
names of the city are Posnania and Civitas Posnaniensis. Its Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
name is פּױזן, or Poyzn.
The Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
version of the name, Познань (Poznan'), is of feminine gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
, in contrast to the Polish name, which is masculine.
History
For centuries before the Christianization of Poland, Poznań (consisting of a fortified stronghold between the Warta and CybinaCybina
Cybina is a river in Greater Poland, the right affluent of Warta. It starts near village Iwno and after 43 km falls into the right branch of Warta, which is also called Cybina or Kanał Ulgi. Cybina flows through two big lakes: Swarzedzkie Lake and Lake Malta. This last one is a barrier...
rivers, on what is now Ostrów Tumski
Ostrów Tumski, Poznań
Ostrów Tumski is an island between two branches of the river Warta in the city of Poznań in western Poland. Poznań Cathedral and other ecclesiastical buildings occupy the central part of the island...
) was an important cultural and political centre of the Polan
Polans (western)
The Polans were a West Slavic tribe, part of the Lechitic group, inhabiting the Warta river basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century.During the reign of King Svatopluk I of Great Moravia , who subdued the tribes of the Vistulans and Ślężanie...
tribe. Mieszko I
Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I , was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of Siemomysł; grandchild of Lestek; father of Bolesław I the Brave, the first crowned King of Poland; likely father of Świętosława , a Nordic Queen; and grandfather of her son, Cnut the...
, the first historically recorded ruler of the Polans, and of the early Polish state which they dominated, built one of his main stable headquarters in Poznań. Mieszko's baptism
Baptism of Poland
The Baptism of Poland was the event in 966 that signified the beginning of the Christianization of Poland, commencing with the baptism of Mieszko I, who was the first ruler of the Polish state. The next significant step in Poland's adoption of Christianity was the establishment of various...
of 966, seen as a defining moment in the establishment of the Polish state, may have taken place in Poznań.
Following the baptism, construction began of Poznań's cathedral, the first in Poland. Poznań was probably the main seat of the first missionary bishop sent to Poland, Bishop Jordan. The Congress of Gniezno
Congress of Gniezno
The Congress of Gniezno was an amical meeting between the Polish duke Bolesław I Chrobry and Emperor Otto III, which took place at Gniezno on March 11, 1000...
in 1000 led to the country's first permanent archbishopric being established in Gniezno
Gniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
(which is generally regarded as Poland's capital in that period), although Poznań continued to have independent bishops of its own. Poznań's cathedral was the place of burial of the early Piast monarchs (Mieszko I, Boleslaus I, Mieszko II, Casimir I
Casimir I of Poland
Casimir I the Restorer , was a Duke of Poland of the Piast dynasty and the de facto monarch of the entire country from 1034 until his death....
), and later of Przemysł I and King Przemysł II.
The pagan reaction
Pagan reaction in Poland
The Pagan reaction in Poland was a series of events in the Kingdom of Poland of the 1030s that culminated in a popular uprising. It was caused by dissatifaction with the economic situation and with the process of Christianization.-See also:...
that followed Mieszko II's death (probably in Poznań) in 1034 left the region weak, and in 1038 Bretislaus I of Bohemia sacked and destroyed both Poznań and Gniezno. Poland was reunited under Casimir I the Restorer in 1039, but the capital was moved to Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, which had been relatively unaffected by the troubles.
In 1138, by the testament of Bolesław III, Poland was divided into separate duchies under the late king's sons, and Poznań and its surroundings became the domain of Mieszko III the Old
Mieszko III the Old
Mieszko III the Old , of the royal Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1138 and High Duke of Poland, with interruptions, from 1173 until his death....
, the first of the Dukes of Greater Poland. This period of fragmentation lasted until 1320. Duchies frequently changed hands; control of Poznań, Gniezno and Kalisz
Kalisz
Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...
sometimes lay with a single duke, but at other times these constituted separate duchies.
In about 1249, Duke Przemysł I began constructing what would become the Royal Castle
Royal Castle, Poznan
The Royal Castle in Poznań dates from 1249 and the reign of Przemysł I. Located in the Polish city of Poznań, it was largely destroyed during the Second World War but has since been partly rebuilt.-History and modern view:...
on a hill on the left bank of the Warta. Then in 1253 Przemysł issued a charter to Thomas of Guben
Guben
Guben is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße district, Guben has a population of 20,049...
(Gubin) for the founding of a town under Magdeburg law, between the castle and the river. Thomas brought a large number of German settlers to aid in the building and settlement of the city – this is an example of the German eastern migration (Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
) characteristic of that period. The city (covering the area of today's Old Town
Poznań Old Town
Poznań Old Town is a central neighbourhood of the city of Poznań in western Poland, covering the area of the walled medieval city of Poznań. It is called Stare Miasto in Polish .The original settlement of Poznań was on the...
neighbourhood) was surrounded by a defensive wall, integrated with the castle.
In reunited Poland, and later in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poznań was the seat of a voivodeship
Poznan Voivodeship
-1975 to 1998:From 1975 to 1998, Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship.Capital city: Poznań.Major cities and towns :...
. The city's importance began to grow in the Jagiellonian period, due to its position on trading routes from Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and Ruthenia
Ruthenia
Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts. Its geographic and culturo-ethnic name at that time was applied to the parts of Eastern Europe. Essentially, the word is a false Latin rendering of the ancient place name Rus...
to western Europe. It would become a major centre for the fur trade by the late 16th century. Suburban settlements developed around the city walls, on the river islands and on the right bank, with some (Ostrów Tumski, Śródka, Chwaliszewo, Ostrówek) obtaining their own town charters. However the city's development was hampered by regular major fires and floods. On 2 May 1536 a blaze destroyed 175 buildings, including the castle, the town hall, the monastery and the suburban settlement called St. Martin. In 1519 the Lubrański Academy
Lubranski Academy
The Lubrański Academy was a university college that was established in 1518 in Poznań by Bishop Jan Lubrański. It was the first school with university aspirations in Poznań .-History:The Academy's first rector was the Poznań humanist Tomasz Bederman...
had been established in Poznań as an institution of higher education (but without the right to award degrees, which was reserved to Kraków's Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
). However a Jesuits' college, founded in the city in 1571 during the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
, had the right to award degrees from 1611 until 1773, when it was combined with the Academy.
Second Northern War
The Second Northern War was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Russia , Brandenburg-Prussia , the Habsburg Monarchy and Denmark–Norway...
and Third Northern Wars, the War of the Polish Succession
War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
, the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
and the Bar Confederation
Bar Confederation
The Bar Confederation was an association of Polish nobles formed at the fortress of Bar in Podolia in 1768 to defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against Russian influence and against King Stanisław August Poniatowski and Polish reformers who were...
rebellion. It was also hit by frequent outbreaks of plague, and by floods, particularly that of 1736, which destroyed most of the suburban buildings. The population of the conurbation declined (from 20,000 around 1600 to 6,000 around 1730), and Bambergian and Dutch settlers (Bambrzy
Bambrzy
Bambrzy are Poles who are partly descended from Germans who moved from the area of Bamberg to villages surrounding Poznań, Poland...
and Olędrzy
Oledrzy
Olędrzy is a Polish term used to describe persons, often of Dutch or German origin or ancestry, who lived in settlements in Poland organized under a particular type of law....
) were brought in to rebuild the devastated suburbs. In 1778 a "Committee of Good Order" (Komisja Dobrego Porządku) was established in the city, which oversaw rebuilding efforts and reorganized the city's administration. However in 1793, in the Second Partition of Poland
Second Partition of Poland
The 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the War in Defense of the Constitution and the Targowica Confederation of 1792...
, Poznań, came under the control of the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
, becoming part of (and initially the seat of) the province of South Prussia
South Prussia
South Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1793 to 1807. It was created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland and included in 1793*the Poznań, Kalisz and Gniezno Voivodeships of Greater Poland;...
.
The Prussian authorities expanded the city boundaries, making the walled city and its closest suburbs into a single administrative unit. Left-bank suburbs were incorporated in 1797, and Ostrów Tumski, Chwaliszewo, Śródka
Śródka, Poznań
Śródka is a historic neighbourhood of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It lies on the right bank of the Warta river, opposite the island of Ostrów Tumski where the city's cathedral is situated...
, Ostrówek and Łacina (St. Roch) in 1800. The old city walls were taken down in the early 19th century, and major development took place to the west of the old city, with many of the main streets of today's city centre being laid out.
In the Greater Poland Uprising of 1806, Polish soldiers and civilian volunteers assisted the efforts of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
by driving out Prussian forces from the region. The city became a part of the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
in 1807, and was the seat of Poznań Department
Poznan Department
Poznań Department was a unit of administrative division and local government in Polish Duchy of Warsaw in years 1806-1815.Capital city: PoznańAdministrative division: 10 counties....
- a unit of administrative division and local government. However in 1815, following the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, the region was returned to Prussia, and Poznań became the capital of the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen.
The city continued to expand, and various projects were funded by Polish philanthropists, such as the Raczyński Library and the Bazar hotel. The city's first railway, running to Stargard in Pommern (now Stargard Szczeciński
Stargard Szczecinski
Stargard Szczeciński is a city in northwestern Poland, with a population of 71,017 . Situated on the Ina River it is the capital of Stargard County and since 1999 has been in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship; prior to that it was in the Szczecin Voivodeship...
), opened in 1848. Due to its strategic location, the Prussian authorities intended to make Poznań into a fortress city, building a ring of defensive fortifications around it. Work began on the citadel (Fort Winiary) in 1828, and in subsequent years the entire set of defences (Festung Posen) was completed.
A Greater Poland Uprising during the Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
was ultimately unsuccessful, and the Grand Duchy lost its remaining autonomy, Poznań becoming simply the capital of the Prussian Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
. It would become part of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
with the unification of German states
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
in 1871. Polish patriots continued to form societies (such as the Central Economic Society for the Grand Duchy of Poznań
Central Economic Society for the Grand Duchy of Poznan
The Central Economic Society for the Grand Duchy of Poznań was a social-economic organization of Polish landowners in the Greater Poland region established at a meeting held 13-17 February 1971 as a result of a merger of several local societies.Its main...
), and a Polish theatre (Teatr Polski, still functioning) opened in 1875; however the authorities made efforts to Germanize the region, particularly through the Prussian Settlement Commission (founded 1886). Germans accounted for 38% of the city's population in 1867, though this percentage would later decline somewhat, particularly after the region returned to Poland.
Another expansion of Festung Posen was planned, with an outer ring of more widely spaced forts around the perimeter of the city. Building of the first nine forts began in 1876, and nine intermediate forts were built from 1887. The inner ring of fortifications was now considered obsolete and came to be mostly taken down by the early 20th century (although the citadel remained in use). This made space for further civilian construction, particularly the Imperial Palace
Imperial Castle in Poznan
The Imperial Castle in Poznań, popularly called Zamek , is a palace in Poznań, Poland. It was constructed in 1910 by Franz Schwechten for William II, German Emperor, with significant input from William himself...
("Zamek"), completed 1910, and other grand buildings around it (including today's central university buildings and the opera house). The city's boundaries were also significantly extended to take in former suburban villages: Piotrowo and Berdychowo in 1896, Łazarz, Górczyn, Jeżyce and Wilda in 1900, and Sołacz in 1907.
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Greater Poland Uprising
Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)
The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919 or Posnanian War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against Germany...
(1918–1919) brought Poznań and most of the region under Polish control, confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. The local populace had to acquire Polish citizenship or leave the country. This led to a significant decline of ethnic Germans, whose number decreased from 65,321 in 1910 to 5,980 in 1926 and further to 4,387 in 1934. In the interwar Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, the city again became the capital of Poznań Voivodeship
Poznan Voivodeship
-1975 to 1998:From 1975 to 1998, Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship.Capital city: Poznań.Major cities and towns :...
. Poznań's university (today called Adam Mickiewicz University) was founded in 1919, and in 1925 the Poznań International Fairs began. In 1929 the fairs site was the venue for a major National Exhibition (Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa, popularly PeWuKa) marking the tenth anniversary of independence; it attracted around 4.5 million visitors. The city's boundaries were again expanded in 1925 (to include Główna, Komandoria, Rataje
Rataje, Poznań
Rataje is a large residential area in the eastern part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It contains a number of housing estates, consisting mainly of prefabricated concrete panel blocks, housing a total of approximately 90,000 people .The former village of Rataje was situated close to the...
, Starołęka, Dębiec, Szeląg and Winogrady) and 1933 (Golęcin, Podolany).
During the German occupation of 1939–1945, Poznań was incorporated into the Third Reich as the capital of Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
. Many Polish inhabitants were executed, arrested, expelled to the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
or used as forced labour; at the same time many Germans and Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
were settled in the city. The pre-war Jewish population of about 2,000 were mostly murdered in the Holocaust. A concentration camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
for perceived enemies was set up in Fort VII
Fort VII
Fort VII, officially Konzentrationslager Posen , was a Nazi concentration camp set up in Poznań in occupied Poland during World War II, located in one of the 19th-century forts which ringed the city...
, one of the 19th-century perimeter forts (the camp was later moved to Żabikowo south of Poznań). The Nazi authorities significantly expanded Poznań's boundaries to include most of the present-day area of the city; these boundaries were retained after the war. Poznań fell to the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
(assisted by Polish volunteers) on 23 February 1945 following the Battle of Poznań
Battle of Poznan (1945)
The Battle of Poznań during World War II in 1945 was a massive assault by the Soviet Union's Red Army that had as its objective the elimination of the Nazi German garrison in the stronghold city of Poznań in occupied Poland...
, in which the German army conducted a last-ditch defence in line with Hitler's designation of the city as a Festung. The Citadel
Poznań Citadel
The Cytadela in Poznań is a large park on the site of Fort Winiary, a 19th-century fortified area north of the city centre. It contains a military museum, military cemeteries, and the remains of some of the fortifications...
was the last point to fall, and the fighting left much of the city (particularly the Old Town) in ruins.
Due to the expulsions of Germans from Polish territory (and the fact that many Germans had left as the Soviets advanced), Poznań's post-war population was almost uniformly Polish. The city again became a voivodeship capital; in 1950 the size of Poznań Voivodeship
Poznan Voivodeship
-1975 to 1998:From 1975 to 1998, Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship.Capital city: Poznań.Major cities and towns :...
was reduced, and the city itself was given separate voivodeship status. This status was lost in the 1975 reforms, which also significantly reduced the size of Poznań Voivodeship.
The Poznań 1956 protests
Poznan 1956 protests
The Poznań 1956 protests, also known as Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June , were the first of several massive protests of the Polish people against the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland...
are seen as an early expression of resistance to communist rule. In June 1956, a protest by workers at the city's Cegielski locomotive factory developed into a series of strikes and popular protests against the policies of the government. After a protest march on June 28 was fired on, crowds attacked the communist party and secret police headquarters, where they were repulsed by fire. Riots continued for two days until being quelled by the army; 67 people were killed according to official figures.
The post-war years had seen much reconstruction work on buildings damaged in the fighting. From the 1960s onwards intensive housing development took place, consisting mainly of pre-fabricated concrete blocks of flats
Panelák
is a colloquial term in Czech and Slovak for a panel building constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete, such as those extant in Czech Republic and elsewhere in the former Soviet bloc...
, especially in Rataje
Rataje, Poznań
Rataje is a large residential area in the eastern part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It contains a number of housing estates, consisting mainly of prefabricated concrete panel blocks, housing a total of approximately 90,000 people .The former village of Rataje was situated close to the...
and Winogrady, and later (following its incorporation into the city in 1974) Piątkowo
Piątkowo, Poznań
Piątkowo is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It consists mainly of large estates of blocks of flats, built from the late 1970s onwards...
. Another infrastructural change (completed in 1968) was the rerouting of the river Warta to follow two straight branches either side of Ostrów Tumski.
The most recent expansion of the city's boundaries took place in 1987, with the addition of new areas mainly to the north, including Morasko
Morasko
Morasko is a part of the Stare Miasto district of Poznań, in western Poland. It covers a fairly large but little-urbanised area in the north of the city. To the west and north it borders on the village and municipality of Suchy Las, a developing area of suburban housing...
, Radojewo and Kiekrz. The first free local elections following the fall of communism took place in 1990. With the Polish local government reforms of 1999, Poznań again became the capital of a larger province (Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
). It also became the seat of a powiat
Powiat
A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as "county", although other terms are also sometimes used...
("Poznań County
Poznan County
Poznań County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Poznań, although the city...
"), with the city itself gaining separate powiat status.
Recent infrastructural developments include the opening of the fast tram route (Poznański Szybki Tramwaj, popularly Pestka) in 1997, and Poznań's first motorway connection (part of the A2 autostrada
A2 autostrada (Poland)
The autostrada A2 in Poland is a motorway which, when completed, will run from west to east through central Poland, from the Polish-German border in Świecko/Frankfurt , through Poznań, Łódź and Warsaw to the Polish-Belarusian border in Terespol/Brest...
) in 2003. In 2006 Poland's first F-16 Fighting Falcons came to be stationed at the 31st Air Base
31st Air Base
The 31st Air Base is a Polish Air Force base, located in Krzesiny, part of the Nowe Miasto district of Poznań. It is the first base to host the recently acquired F-16 fighters....
in Krzesiny in the south-east of the city.
Poznań continues to host regular trade fairs and international events, including the United Nations Climate Change Conference
2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference took place at PIF Congress Centre, Poznań International Fair , in Poznań, Poland, between December 1 and December 12, 2008...
. It is one of the planned host cities for the 2012 European Football Championship.
Geography
Poznań covers an area of 261.3 km² (100.9 sq mi), and has coordinates in the range 52°17'34Poznań's main river is the Warta, which flows through the city from south to north. As it approaches the city centre it divides into two branches, flowing west and east of Ostrów Tumski
Ostrów Tumski, Poznań
Ostrów Tumski is an island between two branches of the river Warta in the city of Poznań in western Poland. Poznań Cathedral and other ecclesiastical buildings occupy the central part of the island...
(the cathedral island) and meeting again further north. The smaller Cybina
Cybina
Cybina is a river in Greater Poland, the right affluent of Warta. It starts near village Iwno and after 43 km falls into the right branch of Warta, which is also called Cybina or Kanał Ulgi. Cybina flows through two big lakes: Swarzedzkie Lake and Lake Malta. This last one is a barrier...
river flows through eastern Poznań to meet the east branch of the Warta (that branch is also called Cybina – its northern section was originally a continuation of that river, while its southern section has been artificially widened to form a main stream of the Warta). Other tributaries of the Warta within Poznań are the Junikowo Stream (Strumień Junikowski), which flows through southern Poznań from the west, meeting the Warta just outside the city boundary in Luboń
Lubon
Luboń is a town situated on the Warta River, in the Poznań metro area, in the Greater Poland Voivodeship . It was previously in the Poznań Voivodeship...
; the Bogdanka and Wierzbak, formerly two separate tributaries flowing from the north-west and along the north side of the city centre, now with their lower sections diverted underground; the Główna, flowing through the neighbourhood of the same name in north-east Poznań; and the Rose Stream (Strumień Różany) flowing east from Morasko in the north of the city. The course of the Warta in central Poznań was formerly quite different than today: the main stream ran between Grobla and Chwaliszewo, which were originally both islands. The branch west of Grobla (the Zgniła Warta – "rotten Warta") was filled in late in the 19th century, and the former main stream west of Chwaliszewo was diverted and filled in during the 1960s. This was done partly to prevent floods, which did serious damage to Poznań frequently throughout history.
Poznań's largest lake is Jezioro Kierskie (Kiekrz Lake) in the extreme north-west of the city (within the city boundaries since 1987). Other large lakes include Malta
Lake Malta
Lake Malta is an artificial lake in Poznań, Poland. It was formed in 1952 as a result of the damming of the Cybina River. It is about 2.2 km long, which makes the lake the biggest man-made lake of the city. The water is 3.1 m deep on average with a maximum about 5 m...
(an artificial lake on the lower Cybina, formed in 1952), Jezioro Strzeszyńskie (Strzeszyn Lake) on the Bogdanka, and Rusałka, an artificial lake further down the Bogdanka, formed in 1943. The latter two are popular bathing places. Kiekrz Lake is much used for sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, while Malta is a competitive rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
and canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
venue.
The city centre (including the Old Town
Poznań Old Town
Poznań Old Town is a central neighbourhood of the city of Poznań in western Poland, covering the area of the walled medieval city of Poznań. It is called Stare Miasto in Polish .The original settlement of Poznań was on the...
, the former islands of Grobla and Chwaliszewo, the main street Święty Marcin
Święty Marcin
Święty Marcin , in full ulica Święty Marcin , is a main central street in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It runs from south of the old town district, westwards past the church of St...
and many other important buildings and districts) lies on the west side of the Warta. Opposite it between the two branches of the Warta is Ostrów Tumski, containing Poznań Cathedral and other ecclesiatical buildings, as well as housing and industrial facilities. Facing the cathedral on the east bank of the river is the historic district of Śródka
Śródka, Poznań
Śródka is a historic neighbourhood of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It lies on the right bank of the Warta river, opposite the island of Ostrów Tumski where the city's cathedral is situated...
. Large areas of apartment blocks, built from the 1960s onwards, include Rataje
Rataje, Poznań
Rataje is a large residential area in the eastern part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It contains a number of housing estates, consisting mainly of prefabricated concrete panel blocks, housing a total of approximately 90,000 people .The former village of Rataje was situated close to the...
in the east, and Winogrady and Piątkowo
Piątkowo, Poznań
Piątkowo is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It consists mainly of large estates of blocks of flats, built from the late 1970s onwards...
north of the centre. Older residential and commercial districts include those of Wilda, Łazarz and Górczyn to the south, and Jeżyce to the west. There are also significant areas of forest within the city boundaries, particularly in the east adjoining Swarzędz
Swarzedz
Swarzędz is a town in central Poland of 29,766 inhabitants and a mixed urban-rural commune of 40,166 inhabitants...
, and around the lakes in the north-west.
For more details on Poznań's geography, see the articles on the five districts: Stare Miasto, Nowe Miasto, Jeżyce, Grunwald and Wilda.
Climate
The climate of Poznań is continental humidHumid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
with relatively cold winters and fairly hot summers. Snow is common in winter, when night-time temperatures are typically below zero. In summer temperatures may often reach 30 °C (86 °F). Annual rainfall is less than 500 mm, among the lowest in Poland. The rainiest month is July, mainly due to short but intense cloudbursts and thunderstorms. The number of hours of sunshine is among the highest in the country.
Administrative division
Poznań is divided into 42 neighbourhoods (osiedleOsiedle
Osiedle is a term used in Poland to denote a designated subdivision of a city or town, or of a dzielnica, with its own council and executive. Like the dzielnica and sołectwo, an osiedle is an auxiliary unit of a gmina. These units are created by decision of the gmina council, and do not have...
s), each of which has its own elected council with certain decision-making and spending powers. The first uniform elections for these councils covering the whole area of the city were held on 20 March 2011.
For certain administrative purposes, the old division into five dzielnica
Dzielnica
In the Polish system of local administration, a dzielnica is an administrative subdivision or quarter of a city or town. A dzielnica may have its own elected council , and those of Warsaw each have their own mayor...
s is used (although these ceased to be governmental units in 1990). These were:
- Stare MiastoPoznan-Stare MiastoStare Miasto is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It was one of the five governmental districts into which the city was divided prior to 1990, and which are retained for certain administrative purposes. For details, see Administrative division of Poznań.The Polish name Stare Miasto...
("Old Town"), population 161,200, area 47.1 km² (18.2 sq mi), covering the central and northern parts of the city - Nowe MiastoPoznan-Nowe MiastoNowe Miasto is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It was one of the five governmental districts into which the city was divided prior to 1990, and which are retained for certain administrative purposes...
("New Town"), population 141,424, area 105.1 km² (40.6 sq mi), including all parts of the city on the right (east) bank of the Warta - GrunwaldPoznan-GrunwaldGrunwald is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It was one of the five governmental districts into which the city was divided prior to 1990, and which are retained for certain administrative purposes .The name "Grunwald" comes from the name of the street ulica Grunwaldzka, which had...
, population 125,500, area 36.2 km² (14 sq mi), covering the south-western parts of the city - JeżycePoznan-JezyceJeżyce is a part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It was one of the five governmental districts into which the city was divided prior to 1990, and which are retained for certain administrative purposes...
, population 81,300, area 57.9 km² (22.4 sq mi), covering the north-western parts of the city - WildaPoznan-WildaWilda is a southern part of the city of Poznań in western Poland. It was the smallest of the five governmental districts into which the city was divided prior to 1990, and which are retained for certain administrative purposes...
, population 62,290, area 15 km² (5.8 sq mi), in the southern part of the city
Economy
Poznań has been an important trade centre since the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Starting in the 19th century, local heavy industry began to grow. Several major factories were built, including the Hipolit Cegielski
Hipolit Cegielski
Hipolit Cegielski was a Polish businessman and social and cultural activist. He founded H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. in 1846.-References:...
steel mill and railway factory (see H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A.
H. Cegielski - Poznan S.A.
H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. is a well-known Polish manufacturing company from the city of Poznań. The company is locally known as Ceglorz, and since 1923 has also used the HCP symbol.-History:...
).
Nowadays Poznań is one of the major trade centers in Poland. Poznań is regarded as the second most prosperous city in Poland after Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. The city of Poznań produced PLN 31.8 billion of Poland's gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
in 2006. The city also boasts a GDP per capita
Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...
of 200,4% (2008) of Poland's average. Furthermore, Poznań had very low unemployment rate of 2.3% as of May 2009. For comparison, Poland's national unemployment rate was over 10%.
Many Western European companies have established their Polish headquarters in Poznań, or in the nearby towns of Tarnowo Podgórne
Tarnowo Podgórne
Tarnowo Podgórne is an urbanized village in Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Tarnowo Podgórne. It lies approximately north-west of the regional capital Poznań.The village has a population of 3,804.-References:...
and Swarzędz
Swarzedz
Swarzędz is a town in central Poland of 29,766 inhabitants and a mixed urban-rural commune of 40,166 inhabitants...
. Most foreign investors are German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
companies (see List of corporations in Poznań), along with a few others. Investors are mostly from the food processing, furniture, automotive and transport and logistics industries. Foreign companies are primarily attracted by low labour costs, but also by the relatively good road and railway network, good vocational skills of workers and relatively liberal employment laws.
The recently built Stary Browar
Stary Browar
Shopping, Arts and Business Center "Stary Browar" - the center of commerce and art, built in November 2003, located in the center of Poznan at 42 Półwiejska Street....
shopping center contains many high-end shops and is considered one of the best in Europe. Other notable shopping centers in the city include Galeria Malta, one of the largest in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, and the shops at the Hotel Bazar, a historical hotel and commercial center in the Old Town.
Transport
Tramways in Poznan
The tramways pf Poznań are a tram system operated by Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Poznaniu Sp. z o.o. . It currently has 20 daytime lines, one night line, and one tourist line served by historical vehicles. The tram system consists of about 66 km of standard gauge track...
, especially Poznański Szybki Tramwaj) and urban and suburban buses. The main railway station is Poznań Central Station
Poznań Central Station
Poznań Central Station is the main railway station for the city of Poznań, Poland's fifth largest city, and capital of the Greater Poland voivodeship.-Investment and modernization:...
to the south-west of the city centre; there is also the smaller Poznań Wschód and Poznań Garbary station north-east of the centre, and a number of other stations on the outskirts of the city. The main east-west A2 motorway runs south of the city; other main roads run in the directions of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Bydgoszcz, Wągrowiec
Wagrowiec
Wągrowiec is a town in northwestern Poland, 50 km from both Poznań and Bydgoszcz. Since the 18th century it has been the a seat of a powiat. It is currently attached to the Greater Poland Voivodeship...
, Oborniki
Oborniki
Oborniki is a town in Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, about 30 km north of Poznań. It is the capital of Oborniki County and of Gmina Oborniki. Its population is 18,176 .-External links:* *...
, Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
, Wrocław, Buk
Buk
Buk is a town in central Poland, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship .The town's name means "Beech" in Polish, and the flag of the town shows a branch of beech, and three beech leaves....
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. An intensive programme of road building and improvement in and around the city is underway in preparation for the hosting of matches in the Euro 2012 football championships. Poznań has also one of the biggest airports on the west of Poland called Poznań-Ławica Airport. In 2010 it handled approximately 1.5 million passengers.
Culture and sights
Poznań has many historic buildings and sights, mostly concentrated around the Old Town and other parts of the city centre. Many of these lie on the Royal-Imperial Route in PoznańThe Royal-Imperial Route in Poznan
The Royal-Imperial Route in Poznań is a tourist walk running through the most important parts of the city and presenting the history, culture and identity of Poznań. The Route leads in a westward direction, from The Church of St. John Jerusalem behind the Wall to the Church of the Sacred Heart of...
– a tourist walk leading through the most important parts of the city showing its history, culture and identity.
Perhaps the most important cultural event in Poznań is the annual Malta theatre festival, which takes place at many city venues usually in late June and early July. It hosts mainly modern experimental off-theatre performances, often taking place on squares and other public spaces. It also includes cinema, visual, music and dancing events.
Classical music events include the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
The international Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition is a competition for violinists up to age 30 that takes place every five years in Poznań, Poland, in honor of the virtuoso and composer Henryk Wieniawski. The first competition took place in 1935 in Warsaw, 100 years after the birth of its...
(held every 5 years), and classical music concerts by the city's Philharmonic Orchestra held each month in the University Aula. Especially popular are concerts by the Poznań Nightingales
Poznań Nightingales
The Poznańskie Słowiki is a leading Polish choir founded in 1939....
.
Every year on the 11th of November, Poznanians celebrate The Day of St. Marcin Street. A procession of horses, with St. Marcin at the head, parades along St Marcin Street, in front of The Imperial Castle. Everybody can eat delicious croissants, the regional product of Poznań.
Poznań hosted the 2009 European Young Adults Meeting of the ecumenical Christian Taizé Community
Taizé Community
The Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of about 100 brothers who come from Protestant, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions. The brothers come from about 30 countries across the world. The monastic order has a strong...
.
Poznań also stages the "Ale Kino!" International Young Audience Film Festival in December and the "Off Cinema" festival of independent films. Poznań has several cinemas, including both multiplex
Multiplex (movie theater)
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an...
es and smaller cinemas, an opera house and several other theatres, as well as museums.
The "Rozbrat" squat
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
serves not only as a home for squatters, but also as a centre of independent and open-minded culture. It hosts frequent gigs, as well as an anarchistic library, vernissages, exhibitions, annual birthday festival (each October), poetry evenings, graffiti festivals and so on.
The city centre has many clubs, pubs and coffee houses, mainly in the area of the Old Town.
Education
Poznań has a few state-owned universitiesUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and a number of smaller, mostly private-run colleges and institutions of higher education. Adam Mickiewicz University (abbreviated UAM in Polish, AMU in English) is one of the most influential and biggest universities in Poland:
- University of Fine Arts in Poznań
- Academy of Music in Poznań
- Adam Mickiewicz UniversityAdam Mickiewicz University in PoznanAdam Mickiewicz University is one of the major Polish universities, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It opened on May 7, 1919, and since 1955 has carried the name of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.-History:...
- Poznań University of EconomicsPoznan University of EconomicsThe Poznań University of Economics is one of the most prestigious business schools in Poland.The Poznań University of Economics is a major academic institution in the western part of the country attracting students from many parts of Poland. It is the biggest and oldest business university in the...
- Poznań University of Medical SciencesPoznan University of Medical SciencesPoznan University of Medical Sciences is a prominent Polish medical university, one of the oldest in Europe, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It traces its beginnings to the foundation of Poznań University in 1919, and was formed as a separate institution in 1950...
- Poznań University of TechnologyPoznan University of TechnologyPoznań University of Technology, PUT is a university located in Poznań, Poland. Poznań University of Technology is known as one of the best technical universities in Poland...
- Poznań University School of Physical Education
- University of Life Sciences in PoznańUniversity of Life Sciences in PoznanThe University of Life Sciences in Poznań is a higher-education institution in Poznań, Poland. It officially gained university status on 11 April 2008. Its previous name was Akademia Rolnicza im...
Scientific and regional organizations
- Poznań Society of Friends of Arts and SciencesPoznan Society of Friends of Arts and SciencesThe Poznań Society of Friends of Learning is a learned society in Poznań, Poland, established in 1857, of scholars and scientists in all branches of learning...
- Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center
- Western InstituteWestern InstituteThe Western Institute in Poznań is a scientific research society focusing on the Western provinces of Poland - Kresy Zachodnie , history, economy and politics of Germany, and the Polish-German relations in history and today.Established by...
Sports
- AZS AWF PoznańAZS AWF PoznanAZS AWF Poznań is a Polish women's volleyball team based in Poznań and playing in the Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball League...
– women's volleyballVolleyball in PolandVolleyball in Poland is a popular team sport. It is the second most popular sport after football. The Men's national team is ranked 5th and the Women's team is ranked 9th in the FIVB World Rankings...
team playing in Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball LeaguePolish Seria A Women's Volleyball LeaguePolish Women's-Volleyball League is the highest level of women volleyball games played in Poland.- Season 2008/2009 :* 1. BKS Aluprof Stal Bielsko-Biała* 2. SSK Calisia Kalisz...
: 8th place in 2003/2004 season. - AZS PoznańAZS PoznanAZS Poznań is a Polish women's basketball team based in Poznań and playing in the Sharp Torell Basket Liga.-2003/2004 season:...
– women's basketballBasketball in PolandBasketball in Poland.See also* Dominet Bank Ekstraliga – Polish Men Basketball League * Polska Liga Koszykówki Kobiet – Polish Women Basketball League* Polish Cup in men basketball...
team playing in Torell Basket Liga: 2nd place in 2003/2004 season (formerly also called Danter AZS Poznań and Stary Browar AZS Poznań) - KKS Lech PoznańLech PoznanLech Poznań is a Polish football club based in Poznań, Poland. The club is named after Lech, the legendary founder of Polish nation.The club was established in 1922 as Lutnia Dębiec, later changing its name several times. From 1933 until 1994, the club was closely linked to Polish State Railways...
– men's footballFootball in PolandFootball is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921.There are hundreds of...
team (Polish Champion: 1983, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2010; Polish CupPolish CupThe Polish Cup in football or officially Remes Puchar Polski, is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title...
winner 1982, 1984, 1988, 2004, 2009 ; Polish SuperCupPolish SuperCupThe Polish SuperCup in football is an annually held match between the champion of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winner. To this date the Polish SuperCup has been played out 21 times with the Polish Cup winner taking the trophy 13 times, while the Ekstraklasa champions had won the trophy 8 times...
winner 1990, 1992, 2004, 2009) - UKS Stoper PoznańUKS Stoper PoznanStoper Poznań Poznań is a youth football club based in Poznań, Poland. The club currently plays at low youth league of WZPN of Polish football....
– men's footballFootball in PolandFootball is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921.There are hundreds of...
team - KS AZS AWF Poznań – men's field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
team - KS Energetyk – rhythmic gymnasticsRhythmic gymnasticsRhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which individuals or teams of competitors manipulate one or two pieces of apparatus: rope, clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon and Free . An individual athlete only manipulates 1 apparatus at a time...
club - KS Pocztowiec PoznańPocztowiec Poznan-External links:*http://www.pocztowiec.poznan.pl/...
– men's field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
team - KTKFiT Błękitny Express Lech Poznań – men's field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
team - Lake MaltaLake MaltaLake Malta is an artificial lake in Poznań, Poland. It was formed in 1952 as a result of the damming of the Cybina River. It is about 2.2 km long, which makes the lake the biggest man-made lake of the city. The water is 3.1 m deep on average with a maximum about 5 m...
in Poznań hosted the World Rowing ChampionshipsWorld Rowing ChampionshipsThe World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...
in 2009 and has previously hosted some regattas in the Rowing World CupRowing World CupThe World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA . It first began in 1997 and comprises three regattas held throughout early summer. In each event points are awarded to the top seven finishing boats and an overall winner determined after the last world cup regatta...
. It also hosted the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships (sprint canoeCanoe racingThis article discusses canoe sprint and canoe marathon, competitive forms of canoeing and kayaking on more or less flat water. Both sports are governed by the International Canoe Federation ....
) in 19901990 ICF Canoe Sprint World ChampionshipsThe 1990 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Poznań, Poland on Lake Malta.The men's competition consisted of eight Canadian and nine kayak events. Five events were held for the women, all in kayak....
and 20012001 ICF Canoe Sprint World ChampionshipsThe 2001 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Poznań, Poland at Lake Malta. The Polish city had hosted the event previously in 1990....
, and will do so again in 20102010 ICF Canoe Sprint World ChampionshipsThe 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 19–22 August 2010 in Poznań, Poland, on Lake Malta. This is the third time that the Polish city will host the championships, having done so previously in 1990 and 2001...
. - Malta Ski – year-long skiing complex (hosting minor sport competitions), toboggan run, minigolf course
- MKS Dąbrówka – rhythmic gymnastics club, synchronized swimmingSynchronized swimmingSynchronized swImming is a hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music....
- Polonia PoznańPolonia PoznanPolonia Poznań is a football club based in Poznań, Poland. Currently, the club competes in the 5th level of Polish football....
– men's footballFootball in PolandFootball is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921.There are hundreds of...
team - PSŻ PoznańPSZ PoznanPoznańskie Stowarzyszenie Żużlowe is a Polish speedway team based in Poznań who currently race in First League . The club never rode in the Polish top division. Their nickname is "The Scorpions" Poznańskie Stowarzyszenie Żużlowe (Poznań Speedway Association) is a Polish speedway team based in...
– motorcycle speedwayMotorcycle speedwayMotorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
team - SSW Malta Poznań – roller skatingRoller skatingRoller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
club - TPS Winogrady PoznańTPS Winogrady PoznanTPS Winogrady Poznań is a football club based in Poznań, Poland. The club currently plays at the 5th level of Polish football....
– men's footballFootball in PolandFootball is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921.There are hundreds of...
team - UKS Szóstka – synchronized swimming, football
- UKS Wanda – synchronized swimming
- U-19 Euro Championship2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football ChampionshipThe UEFA U-19 Championship 2006 Final Tournament was held in Poland between 18 July and 29 July 2006. The top three teams in each group qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Players born after 1 January 1987 were allowed to participate in this competition.-Qualifications:There were two...
in VI 2006 – Open and Final. - Warta PoznańWarta PoznanWarta Poznań is a football club based in Poznań, Poland. Founded in 1912, the club are two-time winners of the Polish Football Championship, in 1929 and 1947, but currently reside in the Polish First League. The name means the Guard in Polish and also a name of river Warta on which Poznań is...
– men's footballFootball in PolandFootball is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921.There are hundreds of...
team (Polish Champion: 1929, 1947), currently plays in the Polish First LeaguePolish First LeagueI Liga is the second level of the Polish association football league, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II Liga. Run by the Polish Football Association since its inception in 1948, all teams from 2002 onwards must have professional status and a licence, issued by the Association...
. - WKS Grunwald PoznańGrunwald PoznanGrunwald Poznań is a sports club based in Poznań, Poland, with several sections:* field hockey * shooting * Wrestling * Handball * Orienteering * Tennis...
– sports club with sections in field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, shootingShootingShooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
, wrestlingWrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
, handballTeam handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
and tennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. - KS Sobieski Poznań – wrestlingWrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
.
Municipal politics
Since the end of the communist eraPeople's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
in 1989, Poznań municipality and suburban area have invested heavily in infrastructure, especially public transport and administration. That results in a massive investment from foreign companies in Poznań as well as in communities west and south of Poznań (namely, Kórnik
Kórnik
Kórnik is a town with about 6,800 inhabitants , located in western Poland, approximately south-east of the city of Poznań. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the Wielkopolska region....
and Tarnowo Podgórne
Tarnowo Podgórne
Tarnowo Podgórne is an urbanized village in Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Tarnowo Podgórne. It lies approximately north-west of the regional capital Poznań.The village has a population of 3,804.-References:...
). One of the most important values of Poznań is the positive attitude of public administration towards investments, and less bureaucracy than elsewhere in Poland.
City investments into transportation were mostly into public transport. While the number of cars since 1989 has at least doubled, the policy of improving public transport gave good effects. Limiting car access to the city center, building new tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
lines (including Poznański Szybki Tramwaj) and investing in new rolling stock (such as modern Combino
Combino
The Combino is a low floor tram produced by Siemens Transportation Systems . The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams are currently made in Krefeld-Uerdingen. Because of its modular design using standardised components, and the resulting reduced costs,...
trams by Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
and Solaris
Solaris Bus & Coach
Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. is a bus, coach and trolleybus manufacturer based in Bolechowo-Osiedle and Środa Wielkopolska, near Poznań, Poland.It is a family-owned business, with Krzysztof Olszewski as president and his wife Solange as chairman...
low-floor buses) actually increased the level of ridership. This is a notable success, even considering the fact that Polish society only possesses about half of the "old EU"'s purchasing power, hence not everybody can afford to own a car.
Future investments into transportation include the construction of a third bypass of Poznań, and the completion of A2 (E30) motorway towards Berlin. New cycle lanes are being built, linking to existing ones, and an attempt is currently being made to develop a Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
-style light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system for commuters. All this is made more complicated (and more expensive) by the heavy neglect of transport infrastructure throughout the Communist era.
Constituency
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
elected in 2005 from Poznań constituency:
- Arkady Radosław Fiedler, PO
- Waldy DzikowskiWaldy DzikowskiWaldy Dzikowski is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 54959 votes in 39 Poznań district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.He was also a member of Sejm 2001-2005....
, PO - Maria Pasło-Wiśniewska, PO
- Dariusz LipińskiDariusz LipinskiDariusz Lipiński is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 4482 votes in 39 Poznań district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list...
, PO - Michał Stuligrosz, PO
- Tomasz Górski, PiS
- Jan Filip LibickiJan Filip LibickiJan Filip Libicki is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 17503 votes in 39 Poznań district, standing for Law and Justice. He joined Poland Comes First when that party split from Law and Justice in 2010. He's a son of Marcin Libicki, a member of the European...
, PiS - Małgorzata Stryjska, PiS
- Jacek TomczakJacek TomczakJacek Tomczak is a Polish politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Sejm for Poland Comes First, having been a member for Law and Justice from 2005 to 2010....
, PiS - Krystyna Łybacka, SLD
Members of European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
elected from Poznań constituency:
- Filip KaczmarekFilip KaczmarekFilip Andrzej Kaczmarek is a Polish politician andMember of the European Parliament-Private life:Filip Kaczmarek was born in Poznań, graduated from the History Department at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and in 2005 earned a PhD in Political Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University...
, PO - Jan Kułakowski, Unia Wolności
- Marcin LibickiMarcin LibickiMarcin Libicki is a Polish politician, former member of the Polish parliament , elected for the Poznań constituency...
, PiS - Jan MasielJan MasielJan Tadeusz Masiel is a Polish politician andMember of the European Parliament for the Greater Poland Voivodshipwith the Self-Defense,and is therefore a Non-Inscrit in the European Parliament....
, Samoobrona - Marek SiwiecMarek SiwiecMarek Maciej Siwiec is a Polish politician and since 2004 Member of the European Parliament for the Greater Poland Voivodship with the Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union, part of the Socialist Group and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the European elections of...
, SLD - Witold TomczakWitold TomczakWitold Tomczak is a right-wing Polish politician, currently a member of the European Parliament.Before his political career, Tomczak worked as a physician He graduated from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice in 1987 and specialized in general medicine...
, LPR
Twin towns
Poznań is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
| Plovdiv Plovdiv Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe... , Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... Assen Assen Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run... , Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... , since 1992 Braşov Brasov Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania.... , Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... , since 2003 Brno Brno Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District... , Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... , since 1966 Hannover, Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... , since 1979 |
Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded... , Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... , since 1979 Kharkiv Kharkiv Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was... , Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia... , since 1998 Nablus Nablus Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the... , Palestinian Authority, since 1997 Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... , since 1994 Pozuelo de Alarcón Pozuelo de Alarcón Pozuelo de Alarcón is a suburb of over 85,000 inhabitants near the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. It is surrounded by large Mediterranean pine-tree forests: la Casa de Campo, el Monte del Pardo and el Monte del Pilar... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... , since 1992 |
Rennes Rennes Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... , since 1998 Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones... , China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... , since 1993 Toledo Toledo, Ohio Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan... , United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... , since 1991 Győr Gyor -Climate:-Main sights:The ancient core of the city is Káptalan Hill at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube, Rába and Rábca. Püspökvár, the residence of Győr’s bishops can be easily recognised by its incomplete tower. Győr’s oldest buildings are the 13th-century dwelling tower and the... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... , since 2008 Kutaisi Kutaisi Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.-Geography:... , Georgia Georgia (country) Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of... , since |
Sister cities
| Bay City Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North... , United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... Pasadena Pasadena, California Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet... , United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Notable residents
- Anna AndersonAnna AndersonAnna Anderson was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia...
(c. 1900–1984), pretender of Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia - Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (1886–1941), German U-boat commander
- Isidor AscheimIsidor AscheimIsidor Ascheim was a German-born Israeli painter and printmaker-Biography:Ascheim was born in Posen , Prussia in 1891. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family and served during World War I...
(1891–1968), painter and printmaker - Stanisław Barańczak (born 1946), poet
- Herbert BaumHerbert BaumHerbert Baum was a Jewish member of the German resistance against National Socialism.Baum was born in Mosina, Province of Posen; his family moved to Berlin when he was young...
(1912–1942) resistance fighter - Zygmunt BaumanZygmunt BaumanZygmunt Bauman is a Polish sociologist who, since 1971, has resided in England after being driven out of Poland by an anti-Semitic campaign, engineered by the Communist government which he had previously supported...
(born 1925), sociologist - Bernhard Baumeister (1828–1917), actor
- Józef Brzeziński, biologist
- Brigitte Burmeister (died 1940), novelist
- Heinrich CaroHeinrich CaroHeinrich Caro , was a German chemist.He started his study of chemistry at the Friedrich Wilhelms University and later chemistry and dyeing in Berlin at the Royal Trades Institute...
(1834–1910), chemist - Hipolit CegielskiHipolit CegielskiHipolit Cegielski was a Polish businessman and social and cultural activist. He founded H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. in 1846.-References:...
(1815–1868), businessman - Dezydery Chłapowski (1788–1848), general
- August CieszkowskiAugust CieszkowskiCount August Cieszkowski was a Polish philosopher, economist and social and political activist...
(1814–1894), philosopher - Antoni CzubińskiAntoni CzubinskiAntoni Czubiński was a Polish historian and director of the Western Institute in Poznań from 1978 to 1990....
(1928–2003), historian - Leopold DamroschLeopold DamroschLeopold Damrosch was a German American orchestral conductor.- Biography :Damrosch was born in Posen , Kingdom of Prussia, and began his musical education at the age of nine, learning the violin against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor...
(1832–1885), conductor - Ludwig DessoirLudwig DessoirLudwig Dessoir, original name Leopold Dessauer was a German actor born in Posen, the son of a Jewish tradesman. He made his first appearance on the stage there in 1824 in a small part. After some experience at the theatre in Posen and on tour, he was engaged at Leipzig from 1834 to 1836...
, (1810–1874), actor - Franciszek DobrowolskiFranciszek DobrowolskiFranciszek Dobrowolski was a Polish theatre director, editor of Dziennik Poznański .-References:* Witold Jakóbczyk, Przetrwać na Wartą 1815-1914, Dzieje narodu i państwa polskiego, vol. III-55, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1989....
(1830–1896), theater director - Tytus Działyński (1796–1861), political activist
- Małgorzata DydekMargo DydekMałgorzata Dydek , known as Margo Dydek in the United States, was a Polish international professional basketball player. Standing tall, she was famous for being the tallest active professional female basketball player in the world...
(1974–2011), basketball player - Akiva Eiger (1761–1837), RabbiRabbiIn Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Poznań (1815–1837) - Jean Paul Ertel (1865–1933), composer
- Ewaryst EstkowskiEwaryst EstkowskiEwaryst Estkowski was a Polish teacher, education activist, and editor of Szkoła Polska magazine.Ewaryst Estkowski died 1856 in Germany Bad Soden am Taunus near Frankfurt Main-References:...
(1820–1856), teacher - Fredrak Fraske (1872–1973), the last surviving United States veteran of the Indian WarsIndian WarsAmerican Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
- Johannes GadJohannes GadJohannes Wilhelm Gad was a German neurophysiologist who was a native of Posen.He was an assistant to Emil du Bois-Reymond at the physiological institute at the University of Berlin, and later worked under Adolf Fick at the University of Würzburg...
(1842–1926), neurophysiologist - Jean GebserJean GebserJean Gebser was a philosopher who described the structures of human consciousness, a linguist, and a poet.-Biography:...
(1905–1973), human consciousness scientist - Eduard Gerhard (1795–1867), archaeologist
- Friedrich GoltzFriedrich GoltzFriedrich Leopold Goltz was a German physiologist and nephew of the writer Bogumil Goltz.Goltz held various university positions in Königsberg, Halle and Strasbourg, Germany...
(1834–1902), physiologist - Konstanty GorskiKonstanty GorskiKonstanty Antoni Gorski was a Polish composer, violinist, organist and music teacher.-Life:...
(1859–1924), composer and violinist - Paul von HindenburgPaul von HindenburgPaul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
(1847–1934), Field Marshal and President of the Weimar RepublicWeimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government... - Maksymilian JackowskiMaksymilian JackowskiMaksymilian Jackowski was a Polish activist, secretary-general of the Central Economic Society , patron of the agricultural circles.-References:...
(1815–1905), activist - John JonstonJohn JonstonJohn Jonston was a Polish scholar and physician, descended from Scottish nobility and closely associated with the Polish magnate family of the Leszczyńskis.-Life:Jonston was born in Szamotuły, the son of Simon Johnston, who had emigrated to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
(1603–1675), naturalist and physician - Stefan Jurga (born 1946), professor and rector of Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańAdam Mickiewicz University in PoznanAdam Mickiewicz University is one of the major Polish universities, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It opened on May 7, 1919, and since 1955 has carried the name of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.-History:...
(1996–2002) - Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (born 1954), composer
- Richard KandtRichard KandtRichard Kandt was a German physician and explorer of Africa.-Life:...
(1867–1918), doctor and explorer - Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz (1895–1963), historian
- Marek KarpinskiMarek KarpinskiMarek Karpinski is a computer scientist and mathematician known for his research in the theory of algorithms and their applications, combinatorial optimization, computational complexity, and mathematical foundations...
, computer scientist - Günther von KlugeGünther von KlugeGünther Adolf Ferdinand “Hans” von Kluge was a German military leader. He was born in Posen into a Prussian military family. Kluge rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
(1882–1944), Field Marshal - Krzysztof KomedaKrzysztof KomedaKrzysztof Komeda was a Polish film music composer and jazz pianist. Perhaps best-known for his work in film scores, Komeda wrote the scores for Roman Polanski’s films Rosemary’s Baby, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Knife in the Water and Cul-de-sac...
(1931–1969), jazz musician - Leo KönigsbergerLeo KönigsbergerLeo Königsberger was a German mathematician, and historian of science. He is best known for his three-volume biography of Hermann von Helmholtz, which remains the standard reference on the subject.-Biography:...
(1837–1921), mathematician - Antoni KraszewskiAntoni Kraszewski* Antoni Kraszewski was a Polish politician and parliamentarian.- References :* Witold Jakóbczyk, Przetrwać na Wartą 1815-1914, Dzieje narodu i państwa polskiego, vol. III-55, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1989...
(1797–1870), politician - Max Kretzer (1854–1941), writer
- Antoni Krzyżanowski, 19th century architect
- Jerzy Kurczewski, (1924–1995), boys choral conductor
- Gerard LabudaGerard LabudaGerard Labuda was a Polish historian whose main fields of interest were the Middle Ages and the Western Slavs. He was born in what became the Polish Corridor after World War I...
(born 1916), historian - Arthur LiebehenschelArthur LiebehenschelArthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...
(1901–1948), commandant of Auschwitz and MajdanekMajdanekMajdanek was a German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland, established during the German Nazi occupation of Poland. The camp operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, when it was captured nearly intact by the advancing Soviet Red Army... - Paul LeonhardtPaul LeonhardtPaul Saladin Leonhardt was a German chess master.He was born in Posen, Province of Posen, Poland , and died of a heart attack in Königsberg during a game of chess....
(1877–1934), chess master - Karol LibeltKarol LibeltKarol Libelt was a Polish philosopher, writer, political and social activist, social worker and liberal, nationalist politician, president of the PTPN.-Life and work:...
(1807–1875), philosopher - Włodzimierz Łęcki (born 1937), politician and writer
- Andrzej Maleszka (born 1955), theatre and movie director
- Karol MarcinkowskiKarol MarcinkowskiKarol Marcinkowski was a Polish physician, social activist in the Greater Poland region , supporter of the basic education programmes, organizer of the Scientific Help Society and the Poznań Bazar - the Polish mall in Poznań that...
(1800–1848), physician and social activist - Władysław Markiewicz (born 1920), sociologist
- Teofil Matecki (1810–1886), philosopher
- Heinrich MendelssohnHeinrich MendelssohnHeinrich Mendelssohn was a Berlin building tycoon.Mendelssohn was born in Posen, German Empire today Poznań, Poland in 1881. In cooperation with Albert Heilmann, Mendelssohn constructed the Europahaus in Berlin, which today houses the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and...
(1881–1959), building tycoon - Karl-Friedrich MertenKarl-Friedrich MertenCaptain Karl-Friedrich Merten was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He is credited with the sinking of 27 ships for a total of of allied shipping. For this achievement he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves...
(1905–1993), U-boat commander - Maciej Mielżyński (1799–1870), politician
- Julius Moses (1868–1942), politician
- Małgorzata Musierowicz (born 1945), novelist
- Andrzej NiegolewskiAndrzej NiegolewskiAndrzej Niegolewski was a Polish colonel during the Napoleonic Wars, member of parliament and a shareholder of the Poznan Bazar.-References:...
(1787–1857), colonel - Władysław Niegolewski (1814–1880), politician
- Gustav Oelsner (1879–1956), architect
- Władysław Oleszczyński (1809–1866), sculptor
- Lilli PalmerLilli PalmerLilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...
(1914–1986), actress - Janusz Pałubicki (born 1948), politician
- Kazimierz PiwarskiKazimierz PiwarskiKazimierz Piwarski was a Polish historian, professor of Jagiellonian University in Kraków since 1946 and Poznań University in years 1953-1955, member of Polish Academy of Skills since 1945, and member of Polish Academy of Sciences since 1958.He researched in the history of the Polish provinces...
, (1903–1968), historian - Gustaw PotworowskiGustaw PotworowskiGustaw Potworowski, count, was a Polish activist, founder of the Kasyno in Gostyń, activist of the Polish League . Born into an old Calvinist noble family, was one of the leading persons of the Polish national movement in the Prussian Province of Posen.-References:* Witold Jakóbczyk, Przetrwać na...
(1800–1860), activist - Tomasz Przybecki (born 1981), articled clerk
- Edward Raczyński (1786–1845), politician
- Cyryl RatajskiCyryl RatajskiCyryl Ratajski was a Polish politician and lawyer.He was the president of Poznań in the years 1922-1924, 1925-1934 and in September 1939. In the years 1924-1925 he was the Polish Minister of the Interior.From 1937 he was a member of Labour Party, Stronnictwo Pracy...
(1875–1942), mayor of Poznań - Antoni Radziwiłł (1775–1833), aristocrat
- Marian RejewskiMarian RejewskiMarian Adam Rejewski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in 1932 solved the plugboard-equipped Enigma machine, the main cipher device used by Germany...
(1905–1980), cryptoanalist, Enigma codemachine codebreaker - Richard RotheRichard RotheRichard Rothe was a German Lutheran theologian.-Biography:Richard Rothe was born at Posen, then part of Prussia....
( 1799–1867), Lutheran theologian. - Jerzy RóżyckiJerzy RózyckiJerzy Witold Różycki was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers.-Life:Różycki was born in what is now Ukraine, the fourth and youngest child of Zygmunt Różycki, a pharmacist and graduate of Saint Petersburg University, and Wanda, née Benita. ...
(1927–1932), cryptoanalist, Enigma codemachine codebreaker - Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915–2006), operatic coloratura-soprano, born in JarocinJarocinJarocin Jarocin Jarocin ( is a town in central Poland with 25,700 inhabitants (1995). Since 1999 Jarocin has been located in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, prior to that it was located in the Kalisz Voivodeship (1975–1998).- History :...
- Michał Sczaniecki (1910–1977), historian
- Józef Struś (1510–1568), scientist and mayor of Poznań
- Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki (July 20, 1797 – October 6, 1873), Polish explorer and geologist
- Stefan Stuligrosz (born 1920), choral conductor
- Rafał Szukała (born 1971), butterfly swimmer
- Roman SzymańskiRoman SzymanskiRoman Szymański was a Polish political activist, publicist, editor of Orędownik magazine.-References:...
(1840–1908), political activist - Mirosław Szymkowiak (born 1976) football player
- Jerzy TopolskiJerzy TopolskiJerzy Topolski was a Polish historian. Professor of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, he wrote over 30 books and hundreds of articles. He specialized in modern history of Poland and Europe, history of historiography and theory and methodology of history....
(1928–1998), historian - Lech TrzeciakowskiLech TrzeciakowskiLech Trzeciakowski is a Polish historian who served as director of the Western Institute in Poznań from 1974 to 1978.-Selected publications:...
(born 1931), historian - Jan WęglarzJan WeglarzJan Węglarz is a Polish computer scientist. His current research focuses on operations research.He studied at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań, where he graduated mathematics in 1969, and later on Poznań University of Technology, when he received title from automatics in 1971. He...
(born 1947), computer scientist - Piotr WiśniewskiPiotr WiśniewskiPiotr Wiśniewski is a Polish footballer, who currently plays for Lechia Gdańsk in the Ekstraklasa.- External links :*...
(born 1955), Statistician - Zygmunt WojciechowskiZygmunt WojciechowskiZygmunt Wojciechowski was a Polish historianand nationalist politician, active in the Second Polish Republic. During the Occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany he was a member of the Polish underground...
, (1900–1955), historian and founder of the Western InstituteWestern InstituteThe Western Institute in Poznań is a scientific research society focusing on the Western provinces of Poland - Kresy Zachodnie , history, economy and politics of Germany, and the Polish-German relations in history and today.Established by... - Leon WegnerLeon WegnerLeon Wegner was a Polish economist and historian, co-founder of Poznań Society of Friends of Arts and Sciences.-References:...
(1824–1873), economist - Anna Wolff-PowęskaAnna Wolff-PoweskaAnna Wolff-Powęska is a Polish historian and political scientist specialising in Polish-German relations. She was the director of the Western Institute in Poznań from 1990 to 2004....
, historian - Henryk ZygalskiHenryk ZygalskiHenryk Zygalski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma ciphers before and during World War II.-Life:...
(1906–1978), cryptoanalist, Enigma codemachine codebreaker - Ryszard "Peja" AndrzejewskiPeja (musician)Ryszard "Peja" Andrzejewski is a Polish rap musician, songwriter and producer. He is one of Poland's most popular rappers, best known as the frontman of the Polish rap group Slums Attack. Peja was the recipient of the Fryderyk prize in 2002. Also in 2001 he had a role in a movie "Blokersi"...
(born 1976), rapper
See also
- Tourism in PolandTourism in PolandPoland is a part of the global tourism market with constantly increasing number of visitors, particularly after joining the European Union. Tourism in Poland contributes to the country's overall economy. The most popular cities are Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, Toruń and the...
- History of PolandHistory of PolandThe History of Poland is rooted in the arrival of the Slavs, who gave rise to permanent settlement and historic development on Polish lands. During the Piast dynasty Christianity was adopted in 966 and medieval monarchy established...
- Royal coronations in PolandRoyal coronations in PolandRoyal coronations in Poland officially began in 1025 and continued until 1764, when the final King of an independent Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, was crowned at St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw. Most Polish coronations took place at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, but crownings also occurred...
including in Poznań cathedral - Poznań FortressPoznań FortressPoznań Fortress, known in German as Festung Posen was a set of fortifications in the city of Poznań in western Poland, built under Prussian rule in the 19th and early 20th centuries...