Every design for Gniezno

Gniezno lies east of Poznań among low hills and lakes. Like Rome, it was founded on seven hills, and five lakes sit inside the city limits: Winiary, Jelonek, Świętokrzyskie, Koszyk and Zacisze. The cathedral crowns Lech Hill, while the Rynek, the market square, spreads across Panieńskie Hill.

There is a particular sense of beginnings here. This was the first capital of Poland and the seat of the country's oldest archdiocese, whose archbishop is still the primate of Poland. It is also the place where, the legend goes, Lech followed his arrow, came face to face with a white eagle guarding its nest against a red sunset, and decided to stay – the eagle and the sunset ending up in the national coat of arms and flag. Walk from the Rynek up to the Bazylika Archikatedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny and you cross a thousand years of history in a short stroll. Yet Gniezno is also an ordinary, lived-in town, with summer evenings by its lakes and the Muzeum Początków Państwa Polskiego just part of the neighbourhood.

If this is where you started out too, wear the nest with pride – few towns can say the country began on their doorstep.