Remnants of his rule are the foundations of a castle built in the second half of the 13th century on the hill next to the Market Square. Przemysł’s castle remained one of the royal seats for many years. It was here in 1493 that King Jan Olbracht accepted the homage of the grand master of the Teutonic Knights, Johann von Tiefen. The building fell into ruin in the 18th century, and the Prussians later erected a new building on the old foundation, which was destroyed in 1945. Reconstructed after the war, it now houses the Museum of Applied Art. Pegasus on the theater Poznań National Museum boasts Poland’s larges collection of works by painter Jacek Malczewski. The permanent exhibition of Gothic art is also worth seeing. The entrance to the museum is from Wolności Square. On the same square is the Raczyński Library, the first public library, founded in Poznań in the early 19th century by Edward Raczyński. Its fasade is an architectural reference to the eastern facade of the Louvre. From the west, the square is completed by the former German theatre where the Ósmego Dnia Theatre is located today. Next door is the Okąglak, Poland’s only round department store. Its windows offer an excellent view of the Wielki Theatre, the first permanent opera house in Poland, built in 1910. Today it stages excellent productions and has a prominent decorative element – the winged horse Pegasus.
