Poznań
The Emperor’s Castle, built on the St. Martin street in the beginning of the 20th century, was the witness of the Polish partition era and the rule of Emperor William II. Today the building is home to the “Zamek” Culture Centre and offices of various institutions and organizations. From there it is not far to the Liberty Square, which has recently been restored to its former glory. Having passed the National Museum, we end up on the Old Market Square. The square is surrounded with picturesque tenement houses, with a renaissance city hall in the centre, the most magnificent secular renaissance building north of the Alps, designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista di Quadro. Everyday at noon, on the city hall’s tower you can see two goats, a symbol of the city, butt their heads, and a trumpeter plays a bugle-call to the four corners of the world. In the summertime the Old Market Square is surrounded with numerous open-air cafés, which are eagerly frequented by the tourists and Poznań residents.
The list of places in Poznań that are worth visiting also includes the Ostrów Tumski Island with its Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, the city’s patron saints, which dates back to the year 968. Poznań can also offer many places fit for sporting activities and recreational sites, such as the area around the Malta Lake, the Cytadela Park, the charming Sołacz Park or Wilson’s Park with its Palm House. The children are sure to be attracted by the city’s two zoological gardens.
When on the Old Market Square, a must to see is the parish church which, similarly to other baroque churches, is inconspicuously blended in with the street’s remaining buildings. This sacral establishment, however, can be identified due to the wonderful façade, which is located at the end of one of the market square’s corner streets. The impressive baroque interior of the church is filled every Saturday with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, played on the pipe organs
Those tourists, who would like to travel further along the path of the beginnings of the Polish State, should visit at least some of the cities located on the “Piast Trail”. It leads from Poznań, through Ostrów Lednicki, Gniezno, Trzemeszno, Mogilno, Strzelno and Kruszwica to Inowrocław. It then turns towards Biskupin and, crossing Gniezno once more, leads to Giecz. It is the trail along which the first Piast princes travelled, thus it holds many historical sites connected to the culture of the first Polish dynasty. Ostrów Lednicki, one of the major points on the trail, is an island that from the 9th century until the beginning of the 11th century was one of the most important centres of the Polanie state. Here, at the location of a medieval settlement, a keep with ramparts was built, and later it developed into a defensive complex, which included a curtis regia and a chapel. The keep was accessible from the shore via several bridges. Today it is a site of the Museum of the First Piasts, with its traditional farmsteads, granges and church buildings. It is also absolutely imperative to visit Gniezno, with its cathedral, in which Boleslav the Brave was crowned king in the year 1025. The cathedral also holds the relics of St. Adalbert, whose life and mission is depicted in the bas-relief scenes on the famous Gniezno Doors, an exceptional work of Romanesque art.
An offer of cultural tours and trails allows for a thematic sightseeing trip, which includes the most important places and sites of major historical, religious, artistic and social importance. The first Polish tourist trail was established in Wielkopolska. It is the Kórnik Trail, marked with signposts identical to those used in the EU. It leads from Poznań, through Kórnik, Rogalin, Puszczykowo with the Arkady Fiedler Museum and Literary Workshop (dedicated to this famous writer and traveller), the National Park of Wielkopolska Museum in Jeziory and the National Museum of Agriculture and the Agricultural and Food Industry in Szreniawa.
Taking a trip along the Cistercian Trail will allow you to learn about the history of this order in Wielkopolska and visit preserved historical sites, such as beautiful post-monastery complexes and baroque churches, richly decorated. There are many places in Wielkopolska, where the order has left its mark: for example, in Owińska, Wągrowiec, Przemęt and Obra.
The Romanesque Trail is a pilgrimage route that leads to several Romanesque churches: in Cieszyn (11th-century Romanesque St. Nicholas Rotunda), Giecz, Gniezno (St. Mary’s Assumption Cathedral), Konin, Ostrów Lednicki, Poznań, Trzemeszno and Tulce. The historical sites of the Romanesque trail are marked with characteristic, easily noticeable boards.
The Wielkopolska St. James Trail is a historical pilgrimage route. It starts in Gniezno and runs through Lednica, Poznań, Leszno, and further outside the region, through Głogów, Zgorzelec, to Prague and finally to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. The trail allows you to visit many churches, such as those connected with the figure of St. James. On the distance between Gniezno and Zgorzelec, the trail is marked by a white seashell with St. James’s red cross.
Wielkopolska is the land of castles, manors and palaces. Some of these are home to museums or memory halls, others have been adapted to suit commercial goals and they have been turned into hotels or restaurants. The Kórnik Castle and the Rogalin Palace, located in the Poznań district, are the most remarkable ones that deserve mentioning. The former is one of the few so well preserved magnate residences. This neo-gothic building, later rebuilt into a baroque palace, was in the possession of the Działyńscy family until the year 1880.
The Cistercians wear white robes with a black scapular, wrapped around the waist with a linen belt, which is why they are called the “white monks”. About 850 of the order’s members became saints or the blessed (the most well-known is St. Bernard of Clairvaux), or they held the function of administrators. In the medieval period, Cistercian abbeys and monasteries were important centres of culture, sciences and medicine. They also introduced progress in the handicraft and agriculture.
The residence owes its today’s look to Tytus Działyński, who founded the library (still functioning), in which national maps and heirlooms have been collected. He also founded a beautiful park with various species of trees and bushes. This historic castle holds a museum, with the collection of furniture from the period between the 17th and 19th centuries, as well as paintings, graphics and pictures and the portraits of the Działyńscy family members. The castle’s museum also holds a collection of military equipment, in particular related to the Polish Hussars. The collections of the Kórnik Library are also of unique value. One of the attractions is the ghost of the White Lady, that is Teofila of the Działyńscy Szołdrska-Potulicka, depicted on an unusual portrait...
The Rogalin Palace is the ancestral home of the Raczyńscy family, whose particularly famous members include Edward Raczyński. He extended the estate’s area in order to accommodate a scenic park and build a chapel-mausoleum. The residence in Rogalin is surrounded by a scenic park with a French garden. The famous Rogalin Oaks grow in the park. They have the status of nature monuments, three of which, named Lech, Czech and Rus, are 700 years old.
Those, who love antique buildings, can find several more places to visit in Wielkopolska with romantic parks and interiors outfitted with valuable collections. The Gołuchów Castle, located in the Pleszewo district, was built in the 16th century, however it has not survived in its original state to present times. In the second part of the 19th century it was renovated according to the style of French Renaissance. Izabela Działyńska of the Czartoryscy house established a private museum in Gołuchów, which operated until September 1939 and was one of the best known Polish museums before the World War II.
Today the visitors of the Rogalin Palace can visit two of the building’s side wings. The northern one holds a gallery of family portraits and a reconstruction of the interior of the London apartment that belonged to Edward Bernard Raczyński, who was the last owner of the palace. The southern wing offers beautiful palace interiors, filled with the family heirlooms and holds Edward Aleksander Raczyński’s gallery of paintings, which includes 250 pieces, all that is left from the original collection.
Since 1951 the Gołuchów Castle has been a department of the Poznań National Museum. In the castle we may see antiques from the collection of Izabela Czartoryska: valuable tapestries, Renaissance European paintings, pieces of furniture and a collection of antique vases. An additional attraction of the castle is an English-style scenic park, the largest in Wielkopolska, which includes an enclosure for European bisons.
The history of the Opalińscy Castle, located near Sieraków (in the Międzychód district) dates back to the 14th century. In 1991 a decision was made to renovate the castle. The formal grand opening of the residence took place in June 1995. It was then that the former owners returned to the castle. Today the building holds an exhibition of excavation finds from Sieraków and its surroundings. The Górkowie Castle Museum in Szamotuły is located in a 16th-century building, which was renovated in the years 1976-1989. The museum was named after the magnate family of Górkowie, who lived in Szamotuły, Poznań, Koźmin and Sieraków. Today the museum exhibits include pieces of furniture, paintings, glass items, porcelain and a particularly popular collection of icons. Wielkopolska is also a place, where you can visit many heritage parks with folk buildings and museums. Among those especially worth visiting there are: the National Museum of Agriculture and the Agricultural and Food Industry in Szreniawa, the Heritage Park and Beekeeping Museum in Swarzędz, the Wielkopolska Ethnographic Park in Lednica, the Museum of Folk Culture in Osiek on the river Noteć, the Wielkopolska Fire Protection Museum in Rakoniewice and the Open Air Museum of Western Wielkopolska Folk Construction in Wolsztyn.
The most important technical historic site in Wielkopolska is the Wolsztyn Steam Engine Depot. It is the only such facility still in operation, not only in Poland but also in whole of Europe. It is a beautiful place to visit for tourists from around the world. The pride of the Wolsztyn steam depot is the “Piękna Helena” (“Beautiful Helen”), a Polish Pm 36-2 steam engine, which is still operational and can travel with the speed of 130 km/h.
In 1831, the classicistic palace in Śmiełowo (in the Jarocin district) was the place of residence of Adam Mickiewicz. In 1970 the building was taken over by the Poznań National Museum, which conducted renovation works there. Since 1975 the palace has been the home to the Adam Mickiewicz Museum.
