Gniezno, Poland

Gniezno is a town in central in central Poland, some 50 km east of Poznan, inhabited by about 73,000 people. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodship (since 1999), previously in Poznan Voivodship.

Gniezno meeting 1000

It is here that the Gniezno Congress (Meeting at the tomb of Saint Adalbert) took place in the year 1000 AD, during which Boleslaus I the Brave (Boleslaw Chrobry), the first king of Poland, received Otto III, the Emperor of Germany. The two monarchs celebrated the foundation of the Polish eclessaitical province (archbishopric in Gniezno, with newly established bishoprics in Kolobrzeg for Pomerania; Wroclaw for Silesia; Krakow for Little Poland and already existing since 968 bishopric in Poznan for western Greater Poland.

Archbishops of Gniezno

Gniezno's Roman Catholic archbishop is traditionally the Primate of Poland (Prymas Polski). After the partitions of Poland the see was often combined with others,first with Poznan and then with Warsaw. In 1992 Pope John Paul II reorganized the Polish hierarchy and the city once again had a separate bishop. Cardinal Jozef Glemp,who had been archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw and retained Warsaw,was designated to remain Primate until his retirement, but afterward the Archbishop of Gniezno, at present Henryk Muszynski,would again be Primate of Poland.

Historical population

1980: 62,400 inbabitants
1990: 70,400 inbabitants
1995: 71,000 inbabitants

External links:

Gniezno homepage (in English), from which all of the above was taken and adapted.