Tourists flock to the city centre where the Old Town Square contains a wealth of historical monuments and museums. The Renaissance town hall houses the Historical Museum of Poznań and the Museum of Musical Instruments is located nearby. Not far from the square stands the parish church, one of Poland's most impressive baroque buildings with rich interior decorations. Organ concerts. The former royal castle located on the hilltop houses the Museum of Decorative Arts, and on the hill's slope the baroque Franciscan church was erected. In 966, the Ostrów Tumski Island witnessed the baptism of the first hide the remains of the old churches (10th-11th cc.) and of the tombs belonging to the first Piasts. In addition to the famous international trade fairs, Poznań is known for its rich cultural life secured by the opera house, Polish Dance Theatre, other theatres and cabarets, men's and boys' choirs, annual Wieniawski international violin competition and the Malta international theatre festival. The city has a number of rest and recreation grounds on the lakes (Malta, Strzeszynek, Kiekrz), regatta fairway and the Malta water-skiing centre open throughout the year. >>>>
Frederick Chopin stayed here twice (1827/1829) in the Hunting Palace belonging to Prince Antoni Radziwiłł. This original larch-wood construction has a big hall supported by a centrally posted column and with wooden galleries running around. Turned into a hotel, the palace has a museum salon devoted to Chopin, which is often used for piano music recitals. The Europa Nostra award was granted to the palace for the protection of the European architectural heritage. >>>>
Many historical buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries. A neoclassical palace and park complex (1770-80) with lateral wings joining the outbuildings (1780). Presidents and prime ministers of many European states hold meetings in the palace in recent years. It houses a hotel and a museum of palatial interiors. Located in the former coach-house, the restaurant offers tasty venison dishes. Hunts, horseback rides and trips in horse-drawn carts and carriages are organized. >>>>
Poland's first capital, Gniezno has St Adalbert as its patron saint. To his grave arrived Emperor Otto III as a pilgrim in 1000. Dominating the present cityscape is the monumental Gothic cathedral (14th/15th cc.) which contains fragments of earlier churches in its vaults. Inside, the focal point is the elaborate silver sarcophagus of St Adalbert in the chancel. The most precious possession of the church is the pair of Romanesque bronze doors, depicting scenes from the life and the death of St Adalbert. >>>>
Gołuchów's greatest attraction is the 16th century castle, remodeled in the French Renaissance style in the late 19th century. It houses a branch of the National Museum in Poznań, and has on display articles of Polish and European crafts, paintings and ancient Greek vases. One hundred year old English-style park surrounds the residence which is the seat of the Museum of Forest Techniques and Technology. West of the parks a bison display enclosure was arranged. >>>>
The Holy Mountain near Gostyń is topped with a Philipine monastery complex, one of Poland's best examples of baroque architecture built in 1675-1727. The authors wanted it to look like the Santa Maria della Salute church in Venice. Its central structure is the church topped with a huge dome. Richly ornamented baroque interiors date back to the 18th century. Next to the church stands the monastery erected in the early 18th century. >>>>
Presumably the oldest Polish town, Kalisz was mentioned as Kalisia by Claudius Ptolemy in his renown Geography of the 2 century AD. Important cultural centre. Of its many historical buildings, the most important is the early baroque Church of SS Stanislas and Adalbert. The theatre built in 1922-36 belongs to a large group of neoclassical buildings from the 19th/20th centuries. The present-day suburb of Zawodzie has an archaeological reserve with traces of an old stronghold (9th c.) and of early medieval cemeteries. >>>>
Kórnik has found its way to the tourist brochures thanks to its castle, a perfectly preserved magnate residence originally erected in the 15th century, which acquired its present neo-Gothic shape in the mid-19th century. The castle library consists of 320,000 volumes, and the 19th century interiors contains a wealth of beautiful and precious objects d'art, furniture, sculptures, paintings, armor and military accessories, china, and tapestries. Behind the castle is a large, English-style park (18th c.) known as the arboretum with about 3,000 species of trees and shrubs. >>>>
The former Cistercian monastery of Ląd is considered top be the most precious monument of sacral architecture in the whole Wielkopolska region. The magnificent baroque church was erected at the turn of the 17th century. Its nave is topped with dome decorated with frescoes. The monastery has well-preserved Gothic interiors (14th c.) with the oratory with frescoes (1372) and the former chapter house with the vaulted ceiling supported by one pillar. >>>>
A baroque town hall stands in the middle of the city's Old Town quarter. Many later remodeled burgher houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. An outstanding sacral building is the baroque Church of St Nicolas with numerous side alters and a fine pulpit (18th c.). Old Calvin cemetery tombstones from the 17th and 19th centuries were arranged to form a memorial located next to the Holy Cross Church. Leszno is Poland's most important centre of gliding, ballooning and of model airplanes flying. The Akwawit swimming pool with two water slides (136m and 52m) has become a great city's attraction. >>>>
The second most visited Poland's religious sanctuary after that of Częstochowa, Licheń has two churches. The older neo-Gothic St Dorothy's Church contains the picture of Our Lady of Licheń from the 18th century. The Way of the Cross in the form of a fairytale stone fortress and chapels and statues are scattered over the grounds. The second church is the gigantic basilica, the largest church in Poland, seventh largest in Europe and 11th largest in the world. Its five-nave interior is supposed to remind us of the early Christian basilicas. It can comfortably house 17,000 faithful (7,000 sitting and 10,000 standing) and its tower is 128m high. >>>>
The Museum of Folk Culture is located on the vast area of the old burial grounds dating back 500 BC. The skansen displays such items found on the burial grounds as pyres and box graves as well as a farm household. Besides, there are timber, half-timber and stone buildings of the region: farm houses, wind-mills, blacksmith's workshop and other farm outbuildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. Cultural events presenting local folk art and ways of living are organized throughout the summer time.
Excavations have shown that Ostrów Lednicki was one of the major settlements of the first Piasts in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. A stronghold surrounded by earthen walls was built here along with a stone palace and a church. On the island you can see what's left of the palace and the church. The foundations and lower parts of the walls are still in place. You have to take a ferry to get onto the island from the little skansen near Dziekanowice. On the premises of the Wielkopolski Open-Air Ethnographic Park which is located on the eastern bank of the lake various folkloric events are organized. >>>>
The tiny village of Rogalin boasts a baroque and neoclassical palace and park complex built in the closing decades of the 18th century. The former aristocratic residence has become a museum with a large gallery of paintings representing major trends and schools in Polish and European painting from the turn of the 19th century. Interior decorations come from the 18th and 19th centuries. Old coaches and travel accessories can be seen in the coach house. Imposing specimens of ancient oak trees are the attraction of the park - some of them are about 600 years old. >>>> >>>>
Rydzyna may be proud of its original baroque urban layout from the 18th century. The monumental castle is a four-wing and four-storied baroque building (17th/18th cc.) with a number of reconstructed rooms including the two-level ball room with a baroque painting on the plafond. The castle which contains a hotel and a museum is surrounded by a large park. The interior of the baroque town hall standing in the town square is decorated with the rococo figure of the Holy Trinity. The baroque Church of St Stanislas has a Gothic tombstone from 1422. >>>>
