Gniezno

Gniezno , Ger. Gnesen, city (1993 est. pop. 70,400), Wielkopolskie prov., central Poland. It is a railway junction and a trade and food-processing center; there is also light manufacturing. The legendary cradle of the Polish nation, Gniezno was the first capital of Poland. At the Congress of Gniezno (1000), Emperor Otto III established the metropolitan see of Poland. The kings of Poland were crowned at Gniezno until 1320. From 1572 until the early 19th cent. the archbishops of Gniezno acted as protectors of Poland. The city passed to Prussia in 1793 and again in 1815; it was restored to Poland in 1919. Gniezno has many medieval art objects. Its most notable buildings are a 10th-century rotunda and a 14th-century Gothic cathedral.

Gniezno, Poland Gnesen According to legend, Lech, a chief of the Polanie tribe, discovered the nest (in Polish, gniazdo) of a white eagle while out hunting. This was taken to be a good omen. The place was given the name ‘nest’, although this could refer to the fact that the area was naturally defendable (as in modern parlance, a ‘machine‐gun nest’). Gniezno was the first capital of Poland between 966 and 1038; the eagle became the emblem of the Polish nation.