Swarzędz is a town (
miasto) 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...
of 29,766 inhabitants and a mixed urban-rural commune (
gmina miejsko-wiejskaThe gmina is the principal unit of territorial division in Poland. It is usually translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2004 there were 2,478 gminas...
) of 40,166 inhabitants (2006 estimates). It is situated in the
PoznańPoznań is a city in west-central Poland with over 557,264 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's fifth largest city and fourth biggest...
metropolitan area, in the
Greater Poland VoivodeshipGreater Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
(since 1999), having previously been in
Poznań Voivodeship- 1975 to 1998 :From 1975 to 1998, Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship.Capital city: Poznań.Major cities and towns :...
(1975-1998).
The town lies directly on the route E92 and includes an aerosport facility run by the Poznań flying club, Wanda Modlibiowska.
Swarzędz is a town (
miasto) 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...
of 29,766 inhabitants and a mixed urban-rural commune (
gmina miejsko-wiejskaThe gmina is the principal unit of territorial division in Poland. It is usually translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2004 there were 2,478 gminas...
) of 40,166 inhabitants (2006 estimates). It is situated in the
PoznańPoznań is a city in west-central Poland with over 557,264 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's fifth largest city and fourth biggest...
metropolitan area, in the
Greater Poland VoivodeshipGreater Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
(since 1999), having previously been in
Poznań Voivodeship- 1975 to 1998 :From 1975 to 1998, Poznań Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland, superseded by Greater Poland Voivodeship.Capital city: Poznań.Major cities and towns :...
(1975-1998).
General
The town lies directly on the route E92 and includes an aerosport facility run by the Poznań flying club, Wanda Modlibiowska. There are various companies based in the town, in particular carpentry and upholstering businesses. In addition a bicycle path from Poznań runs through the
Dębiniec nature reserve and finally through the town to
Pobiedziska Pobiedziska is a town in Poznań County, Poland, with 8,209 inhabitants as of the year 2004. It is also the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Pobiedziska.The town's name comes from the word pobieda meaning victory...
.
History
The documentary evidence for a settlement on the site of modern day Swarzędz comes from 1366. In 1377 there is mention of a rectory in the settlement.
Due to its advantageous location on the route from
PoznańPoznań is a city in west-central Poland with over 557,264 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's fifth largest city and fourth biggest...
to
MasoviaMasovia or Mazovia is a geographic and historic region situated in eastern Poland's Masovian Plain. Its historic capitals include Płock. Contemporary borders of the Masovian Voivodeship do not follow historical boundaries of the region...
the town developed well. The settlement was formerly in private ownership. Originally the property of the
Łodziów family, from the 15th century it passed to the
Górków family. In 1638 the town was granted town rights. In the 17th century,
guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
s for tradesmen and craftsmen were formed. In 1793 during the 2nd
Division of PolandThe 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...
the town of some 2.508 inhabitants came under
Prussian rulePrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
. In 1798 448 craftsmen lived in the town. Of these, 70 were cloth makers and 36 weavers. In 1807 Swarzędz became part of the
Duchy of WarsawThe Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
, though when the Duchy collapsed in 1815, the town again fell under Prussian rule.
At the end of the 19th century carpentry flourished. In 1887 the town was connected to the railroad from Poznań to
WrześniaWrześnia is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants .It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship , on the Wrzesnica River.- History :...
and thus received another important means of transport to other parts of the country, together with the road from
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
to Poznań. In 1919, after the First World War, Swarzędz was again returned to Poland, but was occupied by the Third Reich at the beginning of the Second World War. From 1941 to 1943 a labour camp for
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s was located here.
Places of interest
- There is an open-air museum (the Professor Ryszard Kostecki museum) relating to beekeeping
Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and beeswax, to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. A location where bees are kept is called an apiary.-Origins:There are more than...
across Europe, one of the branches of the National Museum of Agriculture in SzreniawaThe National Museum of Agriculture in Szreniawa is a museum whose main site is in the village of Szreniawa, south of Poznań in western Poland. It was founded in 1964, and gained the status of National Museum in 1975...
.
- In the neighbouring town of Uzarzewo
Uzarzewo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Swarzędz, within Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Swarzędz and east of the regional capital Poznań....
there is a park from the 19th century with a farmstead constructed between 1860 and 1865. There is a Hunting Museum there.
- In the village of Wierzenica there is a wooden church, St. Nikolaus, dating from the second half of the 16th century. At the church is the grave of August Cieszkowski
Count August Cieszkowski was a Polish philosopher, economist and social and political activist...
(1814-1894). Near the village there is a graveyard with graves dating back to the Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
.
- The church of St. Martin in Swarzędz (18th century).
- Church of the Archangel Michael in Uzarzewo
Uzarzewo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Swarzędz, within Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Swarzędz and east of the regional capital Poznań....
.
Local district
The Swarzędz municipality has an area of 102.09 km², on which 40,166 people (2006 est.) live in 21 townships. These include Bogucin, Garby, Gortatowo, Gruszczyn, Janikowo, Jasin, Karłowice, Kobylnica, Kruszewnia, Łowęcin, Nowa Wieś Poznańska, Paczkowo, Puszczykowo-Zaborze, Rabowice, Sarbinowo, Sokolniki Gwiazdowskie, Uzarzewo, Wierzenica, Wierzonka, and Zalasewo. Most of the municipality's population, however, live in its largest town, Swarzędz, which has a population of 29,766 and a land area of only 8.58 km². It is the fourth most
densely populatedPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
city (
miasto) in Poland at 3,469.2 inhabitants/km² (following Świętochłowice,
PiastówPiastów is a town in central Poland, near Warsaw, with 23,331 inhabitants . It is situated in the Masovian Voivodship ; previously, it was in Warszawa Voivodship . With 4,050.5 persons/km², it is the second most densely populated city in Poland .
...
, and
LegionowoLegionowo is a town in Masovia . According to the 2004 Census estimate the town has a total population of 50,759.Legionowo is located ca. 23 km to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only 7 km to the south of Zegrze Reservoir , near the Warsaw-Gdańsk railroad and Warsaw-Suwałki...
). It is also the most densely populated urban part of any Polish urban-rural commune.
External links
Much of the information contained in this article was translated from the German version