POZNAŃ - CAPITAL OF THE PROVINCE OF GREATER POLAND

Poznań - a city of 600, 000 inhabitants in north-western Poland. The capital of the most affluent province of the country, with flourishing agriculture and industry, inhabited by over three million people. Poznań lies half way between Berlin and Warsaw. It links East and West.

In the oldest section of the city - Ostrów Tumski - Poland itself had its origin. It is there, in the Cathedral's Golden Chapel, that we pay homage to the first rulers of Poland.

The people of Poznań value tradition but they also learn quickly and are open to the world. That favourable mixture of characteristics won approval of a group of independent experts from the Empirica Institute of Bonn and of the "Wirtschaftswoche" weekly, who counted Poznań among the cities with the most potential for business investors. On a list of 150 cities from Central and Eastern Europe, Poznań ranked as high as fifth. Similarly, the latest report of the national Institute for Economic and Developmental Research brings information that, after Warsaw, Poznań is the second most investment-friendly Polish city.

The city owes its high position to the International Trade Fair, commercial exchanges, banks, modern companies, universities as well as the quality of labour market and political stability of the local populace which are higher here than in other regions.

Poznań is the commercial capital of Poland. The Poznań International Fair successfully competes with exhibitions in Leipzig, Hanover, and Milan as the rising markets of Central and Eastern Europe entice business people from all over the world. Forty specialised exhibitions, salons, and meetings take place annually on the PIF exhibition grounds.

Presently, there are 73 000 private companies here. Poznań merchants successfully compete for customers with foreign chain stores present on the market. Foreign investment concluded between the years 1991 and 2000 amounted to USD 2 billion (including future commitments).

Poznań is a research and university centre with a dynamic potential. 120 000 students are enrolled in 19 state run and private institutions of higher education here. The largest of them are: the Adam Mickiewicz University, the Poznań University of Technology, the Academy of Economics, The Academy of Agriculture and the Karol Marcinkowski Medical Academy.

The arts in Poznań-a city of commerce, business and science-have always played a special role. You can there find theatres and theatre festivals (including the famous "Malta International Theatre Festival"), concerts, galleries, ensembles that perform at concert halls all around the globe. Music connoisseurs all over the world are familiar with the Henryk Wieniawski Violin and Violin Making Competition, the Poznań Musical Spring, and international jazz festivals.

The Cathedral was built in 968 and then repeatedly destroyed. Today it's a three-nave Gothic basilica with elements of pre-Romanesque architecture, surrounded by radiating chapels. The front spires and three spires over the Eastern wing are capped with Baroque cupolas. The Gothic portal features a zinc - bronze door with scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul. The main altar is Gothic and dates back to 1512. Chapels feature numerous tombstones of bishops and secular dignitaries (14^th to 20^th century). The best known of them is the Golden Chapel, which houses a Byzantine tomb and a monument to Mieszko I and Boleslaw Chrobry.

    photograph by A. Florkowski

St. Stanislav's Parish Church is a three-nave Baroque basilica with a transept built between 1651 and 1732. Its interior is richly decorated with sculptures, stucco-work and paintings. The main nave's ceiling features painted scenes from the life of St. Stanislav. There is an apparent dome with an illusionistic painting by Stanisław Wróblewski (1949) on the crossing of the naves. The main altar was built in 1727 by Pompeo Ferrari. On the right-hand side in the transept of a side altar is the painting St Stanislav Kostka by Szymon Czechowicz. Featured on the left of the altar is a Gothic figure of Christ dated approximately 1430 and painting St. Ignacy Loyola.

    photograph by A. Florkowski

Old Market Square. Shaped as a regularly square, the Old Market Square is surrounded with a grid of perpendicularly intersecting streets. The Square's dominant building is the Renaissance Town Hall, the work of John Baptista Quadro. The tenement houses lining the square were reconstructed in Baroque and Renaissance styles. Next to the Town Hall are the so called Vendor Houses featuring characteristic arcades. Other features include a Rococo Proserpine's Fountain, a torture pole, a well featuring a Bamber woman monument and a Baroque figure of St. John of Pomuc.

Former Emperor's Castle. This Neo-Romanesque former Emperor's Palace was designed by Franz Schwechten and erected between 1905 and 1910. It was altered during the Second World War with the help of Albert Speer. Today the building houses the Zamek ("Castle") Cultural Center, the Animation Theatre and many other institutions.

The tower of the Poznań University of Economics  

The "Malta-Ski" Sports and Recreation Center is located on the Lake's southern shore. Its biggest attraction is an artificial ski slope approximately 150 m in length, completed in 1993. The facility offers two types of ski-lifts: a tow-lift and a chair lift and a "bunny hill" for beginner skiers. 1998 marked the opening of a nearby 560 m long summer sled track. Visitors can rent skiing equipment, bicycles, roller skates and family bicycles. Those seeking a more thrilling experience can try their hand on a climbing wall. At the foot of the ski slope is a children's playground.

The Poznań International Fair is one of Europe's oldest institutions of its type. Many of the pavilions date back to before World War II. One of its most distinctive buildings is Pavilion 11, the so called Spire, a remnant of an Upper Silesian tower designed by the remarkable German architect Hans Poelzig and erected in 1911. PIF's calendar is comprised of approximately 30 specialized events which bring to Poznań thousands of manufacturers, trading companies and research instituties from every continent.

The Poznań Palm House has been in operation since 1910. It underwent a complete renovation between 1982 and 1992. It is now one of Europe's largest conservatories featuring roughly 17000 species and varieties of plants from the Mediterranean abd subtropical, tropical, savanna, and desert climates and a collection of exotic fish.