Sightseeing

Situated in the west of Poland on the River Warta, the capital of Wielkopolska lies halfway between Warsaw and Berlin. The city, which celebrated its 750th anniversary in grand style in 2003, is a bustling business hub and an important cultural and academic centre. The left bank of the Warta constitutes the multilingual business centre of Poznań; this is where various financial institutions as well as numerous local and international companies are located, and where, even more importantly, the International Poznań Trade Fairs are held every year. In contrast, the Old Market Square in the Old Town offers a completely different ambience; here the passers-by inadvertently slow their pace and soak up the atmosphere of the past, as they do on the right-bank Ostrów Tumski, where the Polish state was born.

Ostrów Tumski
Poznań’s oldest monuments are to be found on Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island), an island surrounded by the waters of the Warta and its tributary, the Cybina. Here Poland’s first bishopric was established in 968 and the founders of the Polish state, Mieszko I and Bolesław Chrobry, were buried. Archeological works in summer 1999 unearthed the foundations of a huge royal palace, which supports the hypothesis of Poznań being an early capital of Poland.

To get to Ostrów Tumski from the city centre, take ul. Wyszyńskiego to rondo Śródka and continue down ul. Warszawska.

The cathedral
Dominating Ostrów Tumski is the impressive Basilica of SS Peter and Paul (bazylika św. św. Piotra i Pawła), whose interior was restored after the war to its original Gothic beauty. The high altar, completed in 1512, is a late-Gothic polyptych with the figures of the Virgin Mary, St. Catherine and St. Barbara in its centre. During Lent the inner panels of the altar are closed and you can see the Passion scenes on their reverses. Alternately, during Advent (the period preceding Christmas), the outer panels are closed to reveal the likenesses of John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, St. Christopher and St. Jerome.

The 15th-century Golden Chapel (Złota Kaplica), behind the high altar, was turned in the 1830s into a mausoleum where the remains of the first rulers of Poland - Mieszko I and Bolesław Chrobry - were laid to rest in sarcophagi. Facing them are bronze statues of the duke and the king, done by the renowned German sculptor Ch.D. Rauch. The chapel interior, designed entirely by F.M. Lanci, is consistently Byzantine in style. Among the most precious works in the cathedral are five 15th-century plaques from the Vischers’ workshop in Nuremberg. Robbed during World War II, they were eventually found in St. Petersburg’s the Hermitage in the early 1990s.

St Mary’s Church, the Psałteria and the Lubrański Academy
Not far from the cathedral, the small 15th-century St Mary’s Church (kościół Najświętszej Marii Panny) boasts outstanding polychromes by W. Taranczewski. It is also famous for the so-called ‘infernal’ stone in its foundation. It was believed to possess unusual powers and legend has it that the groove-like marks on its surface were made by knights who used to sharpen their swords on it.
Other interesting buildings on Ostrów Tumski are the Gothic Psałteria (quarters for the cathedral choir) and the Renaissance Lubrański Academy. Founded in 1518 by Bishop Jan Lubrański, it was a major centre of humanities; today it houses the Archdiocesan Archives.

Around the Old Market Square
Poznań’s showpiece and historical centre, the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek) is the favourite meeting spot for tourists and locals alike. One of the pubs favourite with foreign visitors is the Dom Wikingów on the east side of the square, noted for its unique beer (Red Erik) and cosmopolitan atmosphere. In the centre of the square stands the recently renovated town hall, to the left of which is a row of lovely arcaded houses with craft stalls. The Renaissance Weigh House (Waga Miejska), reconstructed after the war, now housing the registry office, and the Neoclassical Guardhouse (Odwach; now a museum) by J.Ch. Kamsetzer, are the two reminders of the original architectural style of the square. Other structures worth of note are the fountains of Proserpine, Neptune and Apollo, a pillory, the Baroque sculpture of St. John Nepomucen and the statue of Bamberka.
The houses surrounding the Old Market Square were reconstructed after the war in the original Renaissance and Baroque styles. The most interesting of the cluster are Nos. 42 and 43; the former has been discovered to contain Renaissance wall paintings, whereas the latter boasts a coffered ceiling with bas-relief busts.

Town hall
Built in the early 14th century to a design of the Italian architect J.B. Quadro, it gained its present Renaissance shape after a great city fire in 1536. Beautifully complementing the loggia and attic is J.Ch. Kamsetzer’s Neoclassical spire crowned by a white eagle (1783). The town hall houses the Historical Museum of Poznań with a display of documents, maps and objects of everyday use. In the centre of the facade is a turret with a clock, just above a cartouche bearing the initials of King Stanisław August Poniatowski. Every day at noon a crowd gathers below to stare at the famous goats, Poznań’s symbol, as they butt their horns twelve times.
Outside the town hall stands a pillory from 1535, a hexagonal pillar topped with a figure of a knight (executor justitiae, or the hangman). The pillory is a 1925 copy of the original, which is kept at the town hall museum.

Historical Museum of Poznań, Stary Rynek 1, tel. 61/8525613, 8568000; Mon, Tues, Fri 10am–4pm, Wed noon–6pm, Sun 10am–3pm.

Statue of Bamberka
At the corner of ul. Ratuszowa and Różany Targ, note the more than century old Bamberka, a bronze figure of a girl with a cornet on her head and a yoke with two water pitchers on her shoulders.

Museum of the Poznań Bambers (Muzeum Bambrów Poznańskich): ul. Mostowa 7, tel. 61/8474354; Fri and Sat, 10am–2pm, groups need to call earlier. Free.

Parish Church
Follow ul. Świętosławska to come to one of Poznań’s finest pieces of architecture, the parish Church of Bishop Stanislaus (kościół św. Stanisława Biskupa). Built for the Jesuits in the 1730s, its huge interior is in Roman Baroque style. Every Saturday at 12.15pm there are organ concerts held in the church to raise funds for the renovation of the beautiful organ by F. Ladegast. Nearby, visitors to the former Jesuit School included Napoleon and Frederic Chopin.

International Trade Fairs
To the west of the city centre, near the main train station, spreads the vast area of the annual Poznań International Trade Fairs. One of the oldest venues of the kind in Europe (the first trade fair was organized in 1921), it encompasses 450,000 square metres with over 50 specialist trade fairs held there every year, some ranking among leading European events and attracting thousands of exhibitors and about half a million visitors.
Many exhibition pavilions have eye-catching achitecture, notably the Iglica (Spire; no. 11), recently obscured by a new, all-in-glass entrance to the exhibition area, which the locals promptly dubbed 'aquarium'. During the fairs the usually quiet neighbourhood between Roosevelta, Głogowska, Grunwaldzka and Śniadeckich streets transforms into a buzzing business centre teeming with life and activity.

Poznań International Trade Fair: ul. Głogowska 14 (opposite Dworzec Zachodni, or West Train Station); www.mtp.pl (with an English version).

Cytadela
Rising west of the old part of Poznań, Wzgórze Winiarskie (Wine Hill) was a royal vineyard in the Middle Ages. After the Napoleonic Wars, when an attempt was made to turn the entire city into a fortress, the hill was heavily fortified. What remains nowadays is just a ring of defences from the 1880s and more than ten forts, which have been turned into a number of museums: of Martyrology, Arms (Muzeum Uzbrojenia; with an open-air exhibition of weapons) and of the 'Poznań' Army. There are also a few cemeteries in the area: the garrison cemetery, St. Adalbert’s, Soviet soldiers’, Polish heroes’ as well as some graves of British and Commonwealth soldiers. The city’s largest public park (93 ha), the Cytadela is extremely popular with the locals, who flock here for picnics and strolls.

Museum of Arms, al. Armii Poznań, tel. 61/8204503.
Martyrology Museum, al. Polska, fort VII, tel.61/8433138; Tues–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm.

Lake Maltańskie
The Cybina River valley and the surrounding hills, to the east of the Old Town, on the other side of the Warta, were the favourite walking places for the locals as early as the 19th century. Nowadays the area known as Malta seems even more attractive thanks to the 65-hectare Lake Maltańskie, an artificial stretch of water created during World War II. It took its name from the nearby late Romanesque Church of St. John of Jerusalem (kościół św. Jana Jerozolimskiego), originally built to accommodate the commanders of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Since the World Championships in Canoeing in 1990 the lake has been known as one of the most scenic and best developed regatta courses in Europe. There are numerous sports facilities and playgrounds lining the waterside; you can rent a bike and rollerblades, have a swim at the south end of the lake or even go skiing at the year-round Malta-Ski Centre. The narrow-gauge Maltanka runs along the north shore, offering great fun for children, while east of the lake lies the new zoo (one of the two in Poznań).

Malta-Ski, ul. Wiankowa, tel. 61/8794111, 8557427, 8792091, www.malta-ski.com.pl.