City break in Poznan

Poznań is a city steeped in artistic and trading traditions, with many schools of higher education, museums and avant–garde theatres. It is also the site of the Poznań International Trade Fairs.

Weekend in Poznan - 3 days and 2 nights

Prices include:
- transfer Poznań airport – hotel – Poznań airport,
- two overnight stay in hotel*** or ****,
- two breakfasts in hotel restaurant,
- 3 hour tour with English, German, French speaking guide,
- full information about events in Poznań for selected period.

Additional information:
- other suggested tours with English speaking guide: “Ride back to Communism”, Palace & Garden in Kórnik, Wolsztyn – Museum of Locomotive, Biskupin, Wielkopolski National Park, Palace in Rogalin - prices on demand,
- price for two or more persons based on double room occupancy,
- prices for children on demand.

Prices

Poznan one of the oldest cities in Poland by the Warta River.
Poznan's impressive cathedral is the earliest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers: duke Mieszko I, king Boleslaw the Brave, king Mieszko II, dupe Casimir I the Restorel, duke Przemyslaw I and king Przemyslaw II. Today the city is a vibrant center for trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's 5th largest city and 4th biggest industrial center.

Poznań is known around the world as an important international trade-fair centre. Every year about 30 international and national events are held here. Specialist trade fairs, such as the Polagra Fair, featuring food products, and the Budma Fair, featuring building materials, are among the largest sectoral events in Europe.

The historical landmarks in this city are also well worth seeing. The observation terrace of the Economics Academy skyscraper, 80 m above ground, offers an excellent view of the city's old quarter, Ostrów Tumski, where the cathedral stands today and where once stood the castle of Prince Mieszko I and his son Bolesław the Brave, crowned in 1025 the first king of Poland. Their sarcophaguses can be viewed in the Golden Chapel of the cathedral. Besides gold cups and monstrances from the churches of Wielkopolska, the Archdiocese Museum houses Poland's only painting by Anthony van Dyck.

Poznań's most beautiful church is the huge Baroque Parish Church of St. Stanisław. This is one of Poznań's most mysterious buildings, since parts of the crypts have not yet been investigated. Rumors say that crates of sketches by great Polish painters Jan Matejko and Wojciech Gerson, purchased for the Poznań City Museum just before World War II, were hidden here. Organ concerts are held in the church every day in the summer, with proceeds going to the renovation of the historic organ. Billy goats on the Town Hall The city authorities were housed in the Renaissance Town Hall until 1939, and today the building is home to the Poznań History Museum. At noon two mechanical billy goats clash horns on the Town Hall tower in the middle of the Old Market Square. The fasade of the houses surrounding the square, once the homes of the wealthiest residents, feature Renaissance and Baroque motifs.

Kornik, located in the vicinity of Poznan, is a small town situated 20 km south-east from Poznan. A 14th century castle built by the Gorka family owns its present English Neo-Gothic shape (arch. Karol Schinkel) to Tytus Dzialynski, a great patriot fighting for the independence of Poland in the 18th-19th centuries. He was the one who much enlarged the collection of art known as the Kornik collections. In 1924 Wladyslaw Zamoyski, descendent of the Dzialynski family, donated the Kornik lands to the Polish state, thus creating the so-called Kornik Foundation. At present the Kornik castle is considered to be a very interesting museum with valuable collections of historical and national mementoes, Polish and foreign arms and armour, precious paintings by Grottger, Norblin, Bacciarelli, copies of Rubens' works, period furniture representing different epochs and styles. The famous Kornik library contains over 350,000 volumes, books, old prints, manuscripts, among them one by Napoleon Bonaparte. The castle's large park-arboretum comprises over 2,500 species and varieties of trees and shrubs, the largest collection of that kind in Poland.

Nature and art
For those who enjoy longer outings, Wielkopolski National Park, just a dozen or so kilometres from Poznań, is an excellent choice. Napoleon Bonaparte stayed there in the early 19th century. A stroll around Poland's oldest and largest palm house or a visit to one of two zoos are ideal for those who don't have time for long excursions. Poland's oldest zoological garden was established in 1874 from a donation of a few animals. With time, the modest collection grew into a large animal farm. Poznań has no shortage of artistic attractions. In January, numerous choirs give concerts of Christmas carols. In late June, there is the Malta International Theatre Festival or a concert by the excellent boys' choir, the Poznań Nightingales. Organ concerts are held in St. Stanisław's Parish Church from July to Sept. at 12:15 p.m. There are plenty of palaces and castles to see around Poznań.