History of Poznań
Poznań Cathedral is the oldest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers, Duke Mieszko I and King Bolesław I Chrobry.
Famous are the originally Bronze Age burial mounds at Łęki Małe, built between 2150 BC and 1800 BCE during the Únětice Culture.
[1] A recent study, based on a multi-proxy approach using cores from Lake Wonieść, has demonstrated the complex settlement history with changing intensities in the Poznań region throughout prehistory[2].
[2][1] Poznań began as a stronghold built in the 8th or 9th century AD between branches of the Warta and Cybina rivers, on what is now called Ostrów Tumski ("Cathedral Island").
Consequently, this early Polish state, ruled by Duke Mieszko I and his successors in the Piast dynasty, was centred politically on Poznań and the neighbouring Polan strongholds, particularly Gniezno and Giecz.
Archaeological research shows that in the late 10th century Poznań had a ducal palace (where the Church of Our Lady now stands, opposite the cathedral), with a chapel, possibly built for Mieszko's Christian wife Dobrawa.
With Mieszko II's death in 1034, which probably occurred in Poznań (and may have been the result of an aristocratic plot), the country entered a period of anarchy and pagan reaction, which caused much devastation in the region.
With the start of the Jagiellonian period Poznań began to grow in importance, as it lay on the trading route from Lithuania and Ruthenia to western Europe.
Most of the surrounding settlements on the left-bank of the Warta belonged to the city, while the cathedral island (Ostrów Tumski) and the right bank formed the bishop's possessions.
The Lubrański Academy was founded in Poznań in 1519, Poland's second institution of higher education after the Jagiellonian University, although it did not have the right to award academic degrees.
Attempts were made to introduce Protestantism to the city in the second half of the 16th century, but this involved mainly the nobility, the bulk of the population remaining Roman Catholic.
A fire of 16 March 1717 spread from the Jewish quarter to the whole of the city; alleged failure of the Jews to allow fire-fighting efforts led to anti-Semitic sentiment.
There was much looting of property by the occupiers, and during the time of Prussian control the townspeople were forced to sell goods at vastly reduced prices or for counterfeit money.
[3][4] In 1778 a "Committee of Good Order" (Komisja Dobrego Porządku) was established in Poznań (a type of body introduced by acts of the Sejm in 1764 and 1768, to oversee the restoration of the kingdom's cities).
[citation needed] Poznań became part of the province of South Prussia (serving as the provincial capital until 1795, when Warsaw was added in the Third Partition).
[citation needed] The city became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Posen, which in theory enjoyed limited autonomy, with the rights of the Poles respected, although in practice efforts at Germanization were undertaken.
[7] German poet Heinrich Heine was most impressed when he visited the site of the library's construction in August 1822, though Edward Raczyński, in fear of rejection, could not disclose to the Prussian authorities he intended to house a Polish public library there until February 1829, when he sent the Prussian king the statute of its foundation and organization[8] and on 24 January 1830 Frederick William III of Prussia did approve it.
[9] An important centre of Polish culture in Poznań would be the Bazar hotel on Wilhelms Strasse, built in 1841 by a company set up by Karol Marcinkowski and other Poles.
Also in 1841 Marcinkowski and Maciej Mielzynski founded the Towarzystwo Naukowej Pomocy dla Młodzieży Wielkiego Księstwa Poznańskiego ("Scientific Help Society for the Youth of the Grand Duchy of Poznań"), which provided academic scholarships for poor Poles.
Near the old Berlin Gate a series of imposing buildings was constructed, including the neo-Romanesque imperial palace (now called Zamek), completed in 1910, which lent the city the status of a royal residence.
In 1889 Emperor Wilhelm II visited the city to inspect the flood damage, and appointed a committee to take steps to prevent further such disasters.
A speech given in Poznań by Ignacy Paderewski on December 27, 1918 ignited the Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, in which Polish troops attempted to take control of the region from Germany.
From 16 May to 30 September 1929 the fairs site became the venue for a major National Exhibition (Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa, popularly PeWuKa), held to mark ten years of Polish independence.
In October 1939, the German police and Selbstschutz also carried out mass arrests of local priests (see Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland).
Property belonging to expelled or murdered Poles and Jews was often given to Volksdeutsche resettled from Baltic States, Eastern Europe and central Germany.
[29] Regional branches of the nationwide Union of Armed Struggle, Bataliony Chłopskie, Gray Ranks and Polska Niepodległa [pl] organizations were also founded.
[32] In February 1943, a flying unit of the Union of Armed Struggle and Home Army carried out an operation to burn down Wehrmacht warehouses in the local river port, an action deemed one of the most spectacular in the region.
A major infrastructural change in the city centre, completed in the late 1960s, was the rerouting of the river Warta so that its main stream flowed in the former relief channel east of Chwaliszewo (as had been planned following the floods of 1889); a right branch was also created linking with the Cybina across the former Berdychowo dam (Tama Berdychowska), thus making Ostrów Tumski a true island between the two branches.
Following the early successes of the Solidarity movement, in 1981 a monument to the events and victims of June 1956 was erected on Adam Mickiewicz Square, with Lech Wałęsa attending.
In 1997 transport communication between the northern estates of Winogrady and Piątkowo and the city centre was greatly improved with the opening of the Poznań fast tram route (Poznański Szybki Tramwaj, popularly Pestka).
