Mogilno is a town in central
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, situated in the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian VoivodeshipKuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is now divided...
(since 1999), previously in
Bydgoszcz VoivodeshipBydgoszcz Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Capital city: Bydgoszcz
Area:
Statistics :...
(1975-1998).
History
Mogilno belongs to one of the oldest settlements along the border of the
Greater PolandGreater Poland or Great Poland, Polish Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań...
and
KuyaviaKuyavia is a historical and ethnographical region in the center of Poland in the Greater Poland Lakes area. Kuyavia is situated in the basin in the middle of the Vistula River and upper Noteć River, with its capital in Włocławek....
historical regions. Since the turn of the 8th and 9th century until the 10th centurym an early-mediaeval settlement existed there, at the long narrow
headlandHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found together on the same stretch of coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are...
surrounded by waters of Mogilno Lake from the west and south and marshes from the east. In 1065, a Benedictine abbey
Kloster Mogilno with German monks was founded there by Bolesław II Śmiały. North of the abbey developed a city, which in 1398 was granted a city charter, and which was the abbey's property until 1773. After the first
PartitionThe Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The partitions were carried out by Prussia, Russia and Habsburg Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands...
in 1772 the city became a part of the
Kingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
, and in 1920 it returned to Poland. Since 1898 until his death in 1910 a parish priest in Mogilno was
Piotr WawrzyniakPiotr Wawrzyniak was a Polish priest, economic and educational activist, patron of the Union of the Earnings and Economic Societies .-References:...
.
Massacre during Second World War
During the German Invasion of Poland in 1939, German forces incited by members of German minority killed 39 Poles and one Jew in the town. The victims were picked out by local Germans for execution. The oldest victim was 75, the youngest 17..
Sights
- The former Benedictine abbey; church dates back to 11th century, rebuild in 13th and 1st half of 16th centuries in late-Gothic style, and also later in 2nd half of 18th century in late-Baroque. Facade is from end of 18th century. The church still retained many Romanesque parts, as pillars, parts of walls in the nave, and particularly well preserved are apse and two crypts. The three-winged abbey with garth dates from the 14th century, and was rebuild in the 18th.
- Late-Gothic church of St. James dating back to ca. 1511
- Centre of the city with houses from 19th century
- Cemetery with a monument to Piotr Wawrzyniak
Piotr Wawrzyniak was a Polish priest, economic and educational activist, patron of the Union of the Earnings and Economic Societies .-References:...
(and a second monument to him at park)
External links