Every design for Ostrów Wielkopolski

Did you know that the people of Ostrów once gave up their town charter of their own accord? Worn down by fire, passing armies and plague, the burghers renounced their town rights early in the eighteenth century, only to win them back soon after, with greater privileges than before, thanks to the nobleman Jan Jerzy Przebendowski. That habit of picking itself up runs right through the town's story.

What sets Ostrów Wielkopolski apart is its long attachment to learning. Under Prussian rule it was home to the Royal Catholic Gymnasium, a cornerstone of Polish schooling that lives on as one of the most respected high schools in Greater Poland, and the town became a centre of Polish education, newspapers and publishing. The Radziwiłł family were its patrons – Antoni Radziwiłł paid for the town hall – and the arrival of the railway turned it into a busy junction. Every November the town marks the events remembered as the Ostrów Republic. Even its name has a story: an ostrów is an island of dry ground among marshes, and the town sits on the Ołobok in the Kalisz Land.

Picture the old Parowóz TKi3-120, a steam engine standing still in a town that grew up around the trains.