Poznan
POZNAN- BUSSINESS AND CULTURE
Poznan was firs capital of Poland, current capital of Wielkopolska Voivodeship. For centuries the city has witnessed the coexistence of Poles and other nationalities, Germans, Jews, Italians, Greeks, Scots or Hungarians.Tolerance and practical approach towards life, so characteristic for generations
of Poznan people, resulted in a unique phenomenon of the history of the so-called Bambrzy, German settlers that came to Poznan from Bamberg in the 18th century and voluntarily assimilated into the Polish folk. They were then one community, ready to face any adversities. Nowadays, Poznan is a vivacious metropolis with business (International Poznan Fair), cultural and leisure centers.
In the evenings, 150 thousand students make the city alive, filling up pubs, cafés and clubs where fun does not stop! International festivals (Malta), concerts, performances, museum and gallery exhibitions, plays, presentations, pageants (St. Martin’s Day) really set the city alight! Current one of most important business and cultural centers in Poland.
More about Poznan
Full official name is The Capital City of Poznan, Polish: Stoleczne Miasto Poznan is a city in west-central Poland with over 578,900 inhabitants (2002). Located by the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical center. Poznan's
impressive cathedral is the earliest cathedral in the country,
containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers: duke Mieszko I, king Boleslaus the Brave, king Mieszko II, duke Casimir I the Restorer, duke Przemysl I and king Przemysl II.
Today the city is a vibrant center for trade, industry, and education. Pozna? is Poland's 5th largest city and 4th biggest industrial center. It is also the administrative capital of the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
History
Mieszko I the first known duke of the Polans, built one of his castles in Poznan. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is the oldest Polish cathedral, founded in Poznan during the latter half of the 10th century. The city would become the capital of Greater Poland. Mieszko I's son, Boleslaus the Brave, was crowned king in 1025 and the Kingdom of Poland was formed. Greater Poland became the 'cradle of the Polish state', and both Mieszko I and Boleslaus I are buried in Poznan. Lubranski Academy, the second Polish university (not a "full" university, in fact, as science students had to go to Kraków) was established in 1519. Pozna? was the capital of the Greater Poland area when it came under the control of Prussia in 1793 and had its administrative area renamed to South Prussia. During the Greater Poland Uprising of 1806, local Polish resistance fighters rebelled, thereby
assisting the efforts of Napoleon while simultaneously driving out the occupying Prussian forces. The city became part of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and was capital of the Poznan department. Napoleon's defeat led to the Congress of Vienna, where the boundaries of Europe were redrawn by the victors. Greater Poland was returned to Prussia and became the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Pozna?. From the time of the Revolutions in the mid 1800s, it was an official Prussian province and became part of the German Empire after the unification of German states in 1871. Shorty after Germany's defeat in World War I, the Great Poland Uprising (1918-1919) occurred, leading to the creation of the Second Polish Republic, where Poznan became the capital of Poznan Voivodeship.During World War II, Poland suffered under Nazi occupation and the Polish population was severely repressed. Since the war's end, Pozna? has become the capital of the surrounding area through administrative
district boundary changes in 1957, 1975, and 1999. Pozna? currently
administrates Greater Poland Voivodeship, one of 16 provinces in the
country. The Pozna? riots of 1956 played a significant role in
liberalising the post war communist regime (read more).
Today
Poznan is one of the major centers of trade with Germany. Many
Western-European companies started their Polish branches in Poznan, or in the nearby localities of Tarnowo Podgórne and Swarzedz. It is the site of annual Poznan International Fair.