Poznan - eastern energy, western style!

"Poland began here" John Paul II

The city of Poznań – or Civitas Posnaniensis – came to be in year 1253, during an age when Poland was divided into small states ruled by princes and dukes from the Piast dynasty. That year it was founded under Magdeburg law by one of the most powerful of those monarchs, Przemysł I the Duke of Greater Poland, as his new capital. The history of Poznań, however, starts several centuries earlier. 

The first center was located on Ostrów Tumski, an island in the Warta river. It was a small gord – a type of fortified settlement common in the Slavic countries – which preceeded the Polish state as it was founded in the 8^th or 9^th century. After the Piast dynasty had conquered the neighobouring tribes and introduced Christianity to Poland thanks to the baptism of Duke Mieszko I in 966 Poznań has become one of the most important settlements in the new Polish state, with a ducal palace and possibly the first cathedral in Poland. It is hard to call it the capital, as the early rulers of Poland – like the Carloingian Kings of France – spent most of their lives travelling for one royal residence to another. 

[Ostrów Tumski with cathedral Miron Frąszczak]

 

Przemysł I wasn't the first to attempt founding a city in the Poznań aglomeration. His father, Władysław Odonic saw the colonisation under the Magdeburg law as a key element in the economic development of his duchy and founded many towns. One of them was Śródka very near the gord on Ostrów Tumski, on the right bank of Warta. Środka, however, was surrounded by marshes which limited it's potential of development. The fact that Środka preceeded the Old Town isn't particularily well known in Poznań and when confronted with this information a typical denizen of the city is rather surprised: Środka is now a poor, relatively dangerous district, whose residents are often endangered with marginalisation. Despite that, the district inspires strong, positive sentiment in many citizens of Poznań. Those two factors combined result in many local NGO's choosing it as their field of operation. Consequently, some of the city's most interesting social and cultural initiatives take place there. 

Founding a town with better development prospects became possible after Przemysł I reclaimed the part of western part of Greater Poland from the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty. This only became possible after the ruler of Silesia, Henryk II the Pious, was defeated (and killed) by the Mongols in the Battle of Legnica. Przemysł choosed a spatious, mostly unpopulated plain on the left bank of the Warta river. Of the small, preexisting settlements on the left bank the three most important have been centered around parish churches and took their names from their saint patrones: Saint Gotthard, Saint Wojciech (Saint Adalbert of Prague) and Saint Martin. Of the three only Saint Gotthard was incorporated into the new town – it was, in fact, where the preparations for the founding of the city started. In 1244 the local Dominican convent was relocated to form Śródka to Saint Gotthard – as Dominican Order was meant to cater for the religious need's of urban communities, it is clear that by that time the duke had an intention to establish a new town on the left bank. Regardless of that, nowadays Saint Martin is the most well known of the three aforementioned settlements. It's successor, Saint Martin Street is often considered the main street of Poznań, and has an annual festival dedicated to it. The event takes place on 11^th November – the day of Saint Martin's of Tours feast in the Catholic Church and, incidentally, the Polish Independence Day. The main part of the celebrations is always the parade in which Saint Martin enters the city along with his colorful entourage.

Unlike many cities and towns in Western Europe, which have developed continiuosly since early Middle Ages and whose plans were often irregular and accidental, the newly founded 13^th century towns in Central Europe were usually built according to a grid plan and oval or rectangular in shape. Poznań is probably one of the best examples of this tendency, as researchers often claim that it is the most regular medievial city in Poland. The medieval Poznań was of elyptic shape, centered around a large, market square, which took up 10 % of city's total area and was then the third largest market square in Poland. Most of the town's important institutions were located within the square: the town hall, which occupied the same place as the current, renaissance one, the pranger, the weigh house, as well as the market stalls. From the town square 12 streets ran towards city gates and defensive walls (it is worth noting, that Poznań's walls were the first such fortification in Poland, built circa 1280 by Duke Przemysł II). Each of those streets was crossed by two cross streets faciliating the communicaton within the city, except for the streets heading west which only had one intersection as the western part of the city was dedicated to the Duke's residence. The triangle shaped blocks in the farthest parts of the city were dedicated to three churches: two belonging to the Dominican convents and the collegate parish church. It is speculated that the churhes were located so close to the city walls so that the population of the villages and other settlements surrounding the city would be able to access them easily.

The general layout of the medievial city is still perserved and so are some of it's institutions such as the collegate parish. It's original church has deterred and was ultimately demolished in the late 18^th century – just in time for the parish to take over the temple originally built for the Jesuite convent after the order was dissoluted. Simlarily, the Dominican convent has survived the trail of time, despite relocation (the original Dominican church, ironically, now belongs to the Jesuites). Suprisingly enough, the town school, originally founded in 1302 so that the children of the burgeoise wouldn't miss classes when floodings prevented them form getting to the cathedral school on Ostrów Tumski, has also survived in a way. Having gone trough various incarnations, it is now a sencondary school known as Liceum św. Marii Magdaleny – that makes it the second oldest still existing educational institution in Poland.

(Ksenia)