History

Poznań (ca. 970 A.D.) is the capital city of the Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) Province which was the craddle of Poland. The name of Poland derives from the Polanians who lived there then. Mieszko I, the first known duke of the Polanians built one of his castles in Poznań. His daughter, Gunhild (formerly Swiatoslawa) was the mother of Canute,  king of England, Denmark and Norway (994-1035). Tombs of Mieszko I and first kings of Poland are in Poznań Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Poland. In 1253, when Poznań was granted the Town Charter, it was already a thriving economic, academic and political centre of the Kingdom of Poland. The ‘old Town’, at the hear of the city, has retained its medieval plan with a grid street system. The old Town Hall which dominates the Old Market Square is one of the most splendid Renaissance town halls in Central Europe. Lubrański Academy, the second Polish university, was founded in 1518. After the 1700-1721 Northern War and a plague Poznań was depopulated.

In 1793 it came under the control of Prussia and had its administrative area renamed to Prussia. In 1806 local Polish resistance fighters rebelled, thereby assisting the efforts of Napoleon while simultaneously driving out the occupying Prussian forces. After the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), Greater Poland was part of Prussia again. Starting from 1828 Poznan was turned into a polygonal fortress with the Fort Winiary citadel and a ring of 18 forts which are still there. In 1874, Poznań ZOO was founded by a group of Polish enthusiasts.

Shortly after Germany's defeat in World War I, the successful Greater Poland’s Uprising (1918-1919) brought it back to Poland. In the 1920's Poznań developed rapidly becoming an academic and economic centre.  During World War II Poland suffered under Nazi occupation and the population was severely repressed.

In the communist regime period which followed , the anti-communist riots of June 1956 were an important step in the fight for the fall of communism. The protests of workers from Cegielski Locomotive Company, the largest factory in Poland at that time, led to a protest march of June 28th during which between 53 to 76 people were killed and about 700  arrested. Today, a monument commemorating the events stands in the Adam Mickiewicz Square.

The first free elections of local authorities in 1990 marked a new era in the history of Poznan. Since then the city has flourished to become a thriving economic, cultural, academic and conference centre again.