Gniezno
Gniezno (
pronounced:
 |
Ltspkr.png |
['gɲȋεznÉ"], ) 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 County (powiat).
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 [Polish: gniazdo] I will call it Gniezdno [modern: 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 I, 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.
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.
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Mediaeval seal of Gniezno |
*
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* 1980: 62,400 inhabitants
* 1990: 70,400 inhabitants
* 1995: 71,000 inhabitants
*
The Gniezno School of Humanism and Management - Millennium(
Gnieźnieńska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Menedżerska Milenium*
The Archbishop's Ecclesiastical Seminary (
Arcybiskupie Seminarium Duchowne)
*
Aleksander Fredro Theatre (Teatr im. A. Fredry)
*
Museum of the Polish State Origins (Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego)
*
PHUP Andrzej Szeszycki*
Faxy.pl *
History of Poland*
Adalbert of Prague*
Royal coronations in Gniezno cathedral*
Gniezno Doors*
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".
*
UrzÄ…d Gminy Gniezno The official site of the Gniezno Gmina "community" administration.
*
MOK - Miejski środek Kultury w Gnieźnie The Gniezno Cultural Centre.
