Every design for Poznań

Poznań grew up on the Warta, at the point where the little Cybina flows into it, and its oldest district is an island between the two: Ostrów Tumski, the seat of the oldest diocese in Poland.

What sets the city apart is how far back its importance reaches. It was one of the capitals of the early Piast state, its cathedral holds the symbolic tomb of Mieszko I and Bolesław I Chrobry, and it was briefly the capital of Poland. Later it became one of the strongest fortresses in the country, and Greater Poland rose here in uprising after uprising. That past is still visible: the Renaissance Old Town, the Zamek Królewski, the Pręgierz on the square and, from a later age, the Zamek Cesarski.

The Poznań of today runs the biggest industrial fair in Poland and holds the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, the oldest in the world. But the most local detail is edible: Saint Martin's croissants, bought on Święty Marcin street, the main street named after one of the city's patron saints, and eaten still warm.