Gniezno

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Gniezno

Gniezno.ogg, ) is a town in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 73,000 people. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodship (since 1999), previously in Poznań Voivodship. It is the administrative capital of the Gniezno powiat (district or county).

History

There are archeological traces of human settlement since the late Paleolithic. Early Slavonic settlements are on the Lech Hill and the Maiden Hill are dated to 8th century and the ducal stronghold was founded just before AD 800 on the Lech Hill, and surrounded with some fortified suburbs and open settlements.

Legend of Lech, Czech and Rus

According to the legends: three brothers Lech, Czech and Rus were penetrating the wilderness to find a place to settle. Suddenly they saw a hill with an old oak and an eagle on top. Lech said: this white eagle I will adopt as an emblem of my people, and around this oak I will build my stronghold, and because of the eagle nest gniazdo I will call it Gniezdno Gniezno. The other brothers went further on to find a place for their people. Czech went to the South (to found the Czech Lands) and Rus went to the East (to create Russia and Ukraine).

Cradle of the Polish state

In 10th century Gniezno became one of the main towns of the early Piast dynasty, founders of Polish state.

Gniezno meeting 1000

It is here that the Congress of Gniezno took place in the year 1000 AD, during which Boleslaus I the Brave (Bolesław Chrobry), the first king of Poland, received Emperor Otto III, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The two monarchs celebrated the foundation of the Polish ecclesiastical province (archbishopric) in Gniezno, with newly established bishopship in Kołobrzeg for Pomerania; Wrocław for Silesia; Kraków for Little Poland and later also already existing since 968 bishopships in Poznań for western Greater Poland.

Royal coronation site

The 10th century Gniezno cathedral witnessed royal coronations of Boleslaus I the Brave in 1024, his son Mieszko II Lambert in 1025. The cities of Gniezno and nearby Poznań were captured, plundered and destroyed in 1038 by the Bohemian duke Bretislav, which pushed the next Polish rulers to move the Polish capital to Kraków. The archepiscopal cathedral was reconstucted by the next ruler Boleslaus II of Poland who was crowned king here in 1076.

In the next centuries Gniezno evolved as a regional seat of the eastern part of Greater Poland, and in 1238 municipal autonomy was granted by the duke Władysław Odonic. Gniezno was again the coronation site in 1295 and 1300.

Regional site of Greater Poland

The city was destroyed again by the Teutonic Knights invasion in 1331, and after an administrative reform became a county within the Kalisz Voivodship (since 14th century till 1768). Gniezno was hit by heavy fires in 1515, 1613, was destroyed during the Swedish invasion wars of the 17th-18th centuries and by a plague of 1708-1710. All this caused depopulation and economic decline, but the city was soon revived during the 18th century to become the Gniezno voivodship in 1768.

Archbishops of Gniezno

Gniezno's Roman Catholic archbishop is traditionally the Primate of Poland (Prymas Polski). After the partitions of Poland the see was often combined with others, first with Poznan and then with Warsaw. In 1992 Pope John Paul II reorganized the Polish hierarchy and the city once again had a separate bishop. Józef Cardinal Glemp, who had been archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw and retained Warsaw, was designated to remain Primate until his retirement, but afterward the Archbishop of Gniezno, at present Henryk Muszyński, would again be Primate of Poland.

Royal coronations in Gniezno cathedral

25 December 1024 - Boleslaus I the Brave
25 December 1025 - Mieszko II Lambert and his wife Richensa of Lotharingia
25 December 1076 - Boleslaus the Generous and his wife Wyszesława of Kiev
26 June 1295 - Przemysl II and his wife Margaret of Brandenburgia
August 1300 - Wenceslaus II of Bohemia

Historical population

1980: 62,400 inhabitants
1990: 70,400 inhabitants
1995: 71,000 inhabitants

Education

The Gniezno School of Humanism and Management - Millennium(Gnieźnieńska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Menedżerska Milenium
The Archbishop's Ecclesiastical Seminary (Arcybiskupie Seminarium Duchowne)

Arts and culture

Aleksander Fredro Theatre (Teatr im. A. Fredry)
Museum of the Polish State Origins (Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego)

Major corporations

External links

Gniezno homepage (English and German version also available), The official site of the Gniezno City's Administration, from which much of the above was taken and adapted.
Archidiecezja Gnieżnieńska The official site of the Gniezno Archdiocese.
Gniezno Poviat The official site of the Gniezno District, which comprises of 9 "gmina".
Urząd Gminy Gniezno The official site of the Gniezno Gmina "community" administration.
MOK - Miejski środek Kultury w Gnieźnie The Gniezno Cultural Centre.

Towns in Greater Poland | Gniezno

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