Gniezno

Gniezno (AUDPl-Gniezno.ogg'gńe1zno; Gnesen; Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, it was the first historical capital of Poland in the 10th century and early 11th century, and it was mentioned in 10th-century sources, possibly including the Dagome Iudex, as the capital of Piast Poland. Gniezno is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gniezno, the country's oldest archdiocese, founded in 1000, and its archbishop is the primate of Poland, making the city the country's ecclesiastical capital. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (powiat). Gniezno is one of the historic centers of the Greater Poland region, the cradle of the Polish state. Like Rome, Gniezno was founded on seven hills, including the Lech Hill, which is the location of the Gniezno Cathedral, and the Panieńskie Hill, which is the location of the Rynek (Market Square). Five lakes are located within the city limits: Winiary, Jelonek, Świętokrzyskie, Koszyk, Zacisze. There are archaeological traces of human settlement since the late Paleolithic. Early Slavonic settlements on Lech Hill and Maiden Hill are dated to the 8th century. At the beginning of the 10th century this was the site of several places sacred to the Slavic religion. The ducal stronghold was founded just before 940 on Lech Hill, and surrounded by some fortified suburbs and open settlements. Lech, Czech, and Rus According to the Polish version of a legend, three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all traveled in different directions. Rus went to the east, Čech headed to the west to settle on the Říp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech traveled north. There, while hunting, he followed his arrow and suddenly found himself face-to-face with a fierce, white eagle guarding its nest from intruders.