Wagrowiec
Encyclopedia
Wągrowiec w is a town in northwestern Poland
, 50 km from both Poznań
and Bydgoszcz. Since the 18th century it has been the a seat of a powiat
. It is currently attached to the Greater Poland Voivodeship
. The town is situated in the middle of the historical region of Pałuki and the Chodzież lake area
, on the river Wełna and its tributaries Nielba and Struga, as well as on the shores of Durów Lake.
miejska, or municipal commune.
The city is also the seat of the rural commune of Wągrowiec, as well as of powiat of Wągrowiec.
Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship
since 1999, Wągrowiec was previously a part of the Pila Voivodeship
(1975–1998).
factory in Poznań and a branch of the Zremb machinery factory), major food processing plants (a mill, meat canning factory and a milk yard) and a furniture factory. The town is also a centre of tourism, with several hotels along the shores of the lake.
and fair
, and in 1396 the Cistercian monastery was moved in.
The town soon started to prosper. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was an important centre of trade, commerce, and manufacture (mostly textiles). This prosperity came to a halt during the Deluge
, when in 1656 the town was captured, pillaged and burnt by the forces of Charles X of Sweden.
After the Partitions of Poland
, Wągrowiec in 1793 was annexed by Kingdom of Prussia
and was confiscated from the Cistercians in 1797. Initially a part of the newly created province of South Prussia
, it was in 1807 transferred to the Duchy of Warsaw
, a state allied to the Napoleonic France.
After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna
in 1815, Wągrowiec was again annexed by Prussia; this time it was made a part of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznań
.
In 1835 the Cistercian monastic order was dissolved, and its property was confiscated by the Prussian authorities. On February 9, 1849, the autonomy of the Duchy was cancelled, and Wągrowiec — under the Germanized name of Wongrowitz — became part of the Province of Posen
. In 1888 a railroad line linking Wągrowiec with Poznań was opened.
After World War I, Wągrowiec found itself again within the borders of a Polish state, the Republic of Poland
. This did not happen without a struggle, though: in the years 1918-19 Polish inhabitants of Wągrowiec fought in the Greater Poland Uprising. The local populace had to acquire Polish citizenship or leave the country. This led to a significant decline of ethnic Germans, whose number within the district decreased from 16,309 in 1910 to 8,401 in 1926 and further to 7,143 in 1934.
Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
and the end of the Polish Defence War
of 1939, the town was annexed to the German Reich. During World War II, Wapno was part of the German Reichsgau Wartheland
and its name was changed by the Nazis
to Eichenbrück. Many of its Polish inhabitants were expelled to the more easterly areas of the General Government
as part of the implementation of 'Lebensraum policies. Wągrowiec was liberated in January 1945.
team plays in the Polish Extraleague, men's soccer in the Third Division.
with: Schönwalde
, Germany, Adendorf
, Germany, Gyula
, Hungary
, Krasnogorsk
, Russia, Le Plessis Trevise, France,
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, 50 km from both Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
and Bydgoszcz. Since the 18th century it has been the a seat of a powiat
Powiat
A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as "county", although other terms are also sometimes used...
. It is currently attached to the Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
. The town is situated in the middle of the historical region of Pałuki and the Chodzież lake area
Chodziez
Chodzież is a town in northwestern Poland with 20,400 inhabitants . Situated in the Chodzież County, Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Piła Voivodeship .-Geography:...
, on the river Wełna and its tributaries Nielba and Struga, as well as on the shores of Durów Lake.
Geography
The region around the town is rich in lakes. The town itself sits in the middle of Lake Durowskie (]. The Wągrowiec municipal area boasts a rare attraction: two rivers, the Nielba and Wełna cross there, without commingling.Administration
Wągrowiec is constituted as a gminaGmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
miejska, or municipal commune.
The city is also the seat of the rural commune of Wągrowiec, as well as of powiat of Wągrowiec.
Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
since 1999, Wągrowiec was previously a part of the Pila Voivodeship
Pila Voivodeship
Piła Voivodeship was a voivodeship in Poland from 1975 to 1998. It was superseded by the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its capital city was Piła.-Major cities and towns :...
(1975–1998).
Economy
Wągrowiec is an important rail and road junction. There are several notable industries in the town, including the machinery factories (a branch of the Hipolit CegielskiHipolit Cegielski
Hipolit Cegielski was a Polish businessman and social and cultural activist. He founded H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. in 1846.-References:...
factory in Poznań and a branch of the Zremb machinery factory), major food processing plants (a mill, meat canning factory and a milk yard) and a furniture factory. The town is also a centre of tourism, with several hotels along the shores of the lake.
History
The town was founded as a small village called Prostynie by the Cistercian monks from the monastery in Łekno in 1319. In 1381 the name of Wągrowiec is mentioned for the first time in connection with the place. By that time the town received city laws, most likely modelled after the Magdeburg Law. At the end of the 16th century, King Władysław Jagiello gave the city the privileges of marketMarket
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
and fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
, and in 1396 the Cistercian monastery was moved in.
The town soon started to prosper. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was an important centre of trade, commerce, and manufacture (mostly textiles). This prosperity came to a halt during the Deluge
The Deluge (Polish history)
The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...
, when in 1656 the town was captured, pillaged and burnt by the forces of Charles X of Sweden.
After the Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, Wągrowiec in 1793 was annexed by Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and was confiscated from the Cistercians in 1797. Initially a part of the newly created province of South Prussia
South Prussia
South Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1793 to 1807. It was created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland and included in 1793*the Poznań, Kalisz and Gniezno Voivodeships of Greater Poland;...
, it was in 1807 transferred to the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
, a state allied to the Napoleonic France.
After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1815, Wągrowiec was again annexed by Prussia; this time it was made a part of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznań
Grand Duchy of Poznan
The Grand Duchy of Posen, or the Grand Duchy of Poznań was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, created from territories annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, and formally established following the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Per agreements derived at the Congress of Vienna it was to have...
.
In 1835 the Cistercian monastic order was dissolved, and its property was confiscated by the Prussian authorities. On February 9, 1849, the autonomy of the Duchy was cancelled, and Wągrowiec — under the Germanized name of Wongrowitz — became part of the Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
. In 1888 a railroad line linking Wągrowiec with Poznań was opened.
After World War I, Wągrowiec found itself again within the borders of a Polish state, the Republic of Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. This did not happen without a struggle, though: in the years 1918-19 Polish inhabitants of Wągrowiec fought in the Greater Poland Uprising. The local populace had to acquire Polish citizenship or leave the country. This led to a significant decline of ethnic Germans, whose number within the district decreased from 16,309 in 1910 to 8,401 in 1926 and further to 7,143 in 1934.
Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
and the end of the Polish Defence War
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of 1939, the town was annexed to the German Reich. During World War II, Wapno was part of the German Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
and its name was changed by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
to Eichenbrück. Many of its Polish inhabitants were expelled to the more easterly areas of the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
as part of the implementation of 'Lebensraum policies. Wągrowiec was liberated in January 1945.
Notable people from Wągrowiec
- Jakub WujekJakub WujekJakub Wujek son of Maciej Wujek; a Polish Jesuit, religious writer, Doctor of Theology, Vice-Chancellor of the Vilnius Academy and translator of the Bible into Polish.-Life:...
, author of a translation of the Holy Bible into the Polish languagePolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, was born in the town (1541). - Max GersonMax GersonMax Gerson was a German physician who developed the Gerson Therapy, an alternative dietary therapy, which he claimed could cure cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. Gerson described his approach in the book A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases...
, a physician was born in (1881). - Adam of WągrowiecAdam of WagrowiecAdam from Wągrowiec , was a Polish composer and organist, as well as a Cistercian monk in Wągrowiec closter. He was born in Margonin. He was famous during his life, and was invited to inspect a new organ in Gniezno cathedral on 17 March 1620...
, organist and composer was a Cistercian monk in town, died (1629)
Notable architecture and other attractions
- The Gothic parish church with a belfry containing RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
polichromies dating to (1587) - A BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Cistertian monastery (late 18th century) - Late Baroque Cistercian church (late 18th century, burnt in 1945, rebuilt in 1946-1962)
- Opatówka abbey — the former seat of the Cistercian abbots, now a regional museum
- Pyramid of Lakiński — the pyramid-shaped tomb of a Polish captain who served in Napoleon's army
- The Dębina oakOakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
tree reserve with trees more than 200 years old and up to 40 metres tall, just outside the city limits - A 5 floor residential highrise with a large red-white painted mast on top http://radiopolska.pl/wykaz/pokaz_lokalizacja.php?pid=134
Sport
The famous Nielba Sports Club is headquartered here. The men's handballTeam handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
team plays in the Polish Extraleague, men's soccer in the Third Division.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Wągrowiec is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Schönwalde
Schönwalde
Schönwalde may refer to the following places in Germany:*Schönwalde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a municipality in the district Uecker-Randow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern*Schönwalde, Saxony-Anhalt, a municipality in the district of Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt...
, Germany, Adendorf
Adendorf
Adendorf is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
, Germany, Gyula
Gyula, Hungary
Gyula is a city in Békés county in south-eastern Hungary. It lies close to the border with Romania, on the river Fehér-Körös.-History:The first recorded reference to Gyula was in a document dated 1313 which mentions a monastery called Gyulamonostor . By 1332 the settlement around the monastery was...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Krasnogorsk
Krasnogorsk
Krasnogorsk may refer to one of the following:*Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia*Krasnogorsk, Uzbekistan, a town in Uzbekistan...
, Russia, Le Plessis Trevise, France,
