Kalisz

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Kalisz
Flag of Kalisz Coat of arms of Kalisz
(Flag) (Coat of arms)
Motto: Młode duchem najstarsze miasto w Polsce
Oldest town in Poland - young at heart
Location of Kalisz
Basic Information
Country Poland
Voivodeship Greater Poland
Powiat (County) Rada Miasta Kalisz
Gmina (Commune) Kalisz
Urban Information
Population 109,000
Area of district 12 km²
Founded 2nd century?
City rights after 1253
Latitude
Longitude		 51°45' N
18°04' E
Gmina Kalisz
Type of commune urban commune (Gmina miejska)
Districts (No.) -
Area 69.77 km²
Agglomeration ~250,000
Density 1560/km²
Area code +48 62
Postal code 62-800 to 62-821
Car plates PK XXXX
Twin towns Ostrów Wielkopolski, Adria, Erfurt, Heerhugowaard, Hautmont, Hamm, Kamieniec Podolski, La Louviere, Martin, Minsk (borough of Frunze), Preston, Szentendre, Southampton, Tongeren
Economy and Traffic
Economy textile
service
Highway E30 Posnan-Lodz-Warsaw
N12 Kalisz-Lodz
Railway Posnan-Lodz-Warsaw
Airport Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport
Administration
Mayor Janusz Pęcherz
Municipal Address ul. Kolegialna 4
62-800 Kalisz
[www.kalisz.pl Municipal Website]
Mediaeval seal of the city of Kalisz
Mediaeval seal of the city of Kalisz
Downtown Kalisz with church and town hall's towers visible
Downtown Kalisz with church and town hall's towers visible
Adam Asnyk's college
Adam Asnyk's college

Kalisz (pronounce: Image:Ltspkr.png ['kaliʃ]) (German: Kalisch) is a city in central Poland with 109,800 inhabitants (1995). Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Skalmierzyce. Please also have a look at Kalisz County for the regional administrative commune (powiat).

The city is an important industrial and commercial centre of the area, with many notable factories located there. It is also the seat of the Calisia piano factory and one of traditional centres of folk art.

Contents

[edit] History

Sometimes Kalisz is called "the oldest town of Poland" because the mention by Ptolemy of a town called Calisia that was situated in the territory of the Diduni (Vandals) in Magna Germania on the Amber Trail. Although it is still not certain whether the exact spot where the city centre is located nowadays was inhabitated in 2nd century, there are many artifacts of the Roman times in the area, pointing to the fact that it must have been one of the stops of the Roman caravans heading for the Baltic Sea.

Modern Kalisz was most probably founded in 9th century as a castellany and a minor fort. The name itself stems from the Slavic term kał, meaning swamp or marsh. In 1106 Bolesław Krzywousty captured the town and incorporated it into his feudal domain. Between 1253 and 1260 the town was granted with Środa Śląska Law, a local variation of the Magdeburg Law, and soon started to grow. One of the richest towns of Greater Poland, during the feudal fragmentation of Poland it formed a separate duchy ruled by local branch of the Piast dynasty. After Poland was reunited, the town became a notable centre of weavery and wood production, as well as one of the cultural centres of Greater Poland. The economical development of the area was aided by a large number of Protestant Czech Brothers, who settled in and around Kalisz after being expelled from Bohemia. Also, Jewish settlement of Kalisz dates back to 1139.

In 1282 the city laws were confirmed by Przemysł II of Poland and in 1314 it was made the capital of the Kalisz Land, one of the Voivodeships of Poland, by king Władysław Łokietek. A notable centre of trade, Kalisz was also located more or less in the centre of Poland back then. Because of its strategic location, in 1343 king Casimir III signed there a peace treaty with the Teutonic Order. As a royal town, the city managed to defend much of its initial privileges and in 1426 a new town hall was built. Also, it was there that king Mieszko the Old is buried.

In 1574 the Jesuits were brought to Kalisz and in 1584 they opened a Jesuit College there, one of the most notable centres of education in Poland back then. However, with time the importance of Kalisz declined and its place was taken by nearby Poznań.

In 1792 the town was struck by a fire that destroyed much of its centre. The following year, following the II partition of Poland, the town was annexed by Kingdom of Prussia. In 1801 Wojciech Bogusławski built a theatre there, one of the first permanent theatres in the area.

In 1806 Kalisz was joined with the Duchy of Warsaw. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, following Yorck's Convention of Tauroggen of 1812, von Stein's Treaty of Kalisch was signed between Russia and Prussia in 1813, confirming that Prussia now was on the side of the Allies.

After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte Kalisch was annexed by Imperial Russia. The proximity of the Prussian border speeded up the economical development in the city and Kalisz, rendered Кализ in Russian, started to attract many settlers, not only from Poland, but also from German states and all over the Russian empire. In 1902 Kalisz was linked with Warsaw and Łódź by a railroad.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the proximity of the border proved disastrous for the city, as it was one of the first destroyed towns of that war. After a series of border clashes, the German army bombed the city with artillery. During the heavy fights that lasted from August 7 to August 22, 1914, the town was destroyed almost completely. Upon entering the city, the German units led by Hermann Preusker took revenge for the defence of the city by the Russian army on the civilians. 800 men were arrested and then slaughtered, while the city was set on fire and the remaining inhabitants were expelled. Out of roughly 68,000 inhabitants in 1914, only 5,000 live in the city the following year. However, by the end of the Great War much of the city centre was more or less rebuilt and many of the former inhabitants were allowed to return to their town.

St. Joseph's Church in Kalisz.
St. Joseph's Church in Kalisz.

After the war Kalisz became part of the, once again independent, Republic of Poland. The reconstruction continued and in 1925 the new town hall was opened. Until 1939 the town had roughly 89,000 inhabitants. After the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939, a Polish-German conflict that sparked World War II, the proximity of the border proved once again disastrous. Although the town was captured by the Wehrmacht almost instantly and without much fight, the city was directly annexed by Nazi Germany. Until the end of World War II approximately 30,000 Poles of Jewish faith from the town and its area were murdered. Additional 20,000 local Catholics were either murdered or expelled to the General Government or to Germany as slave workers. In 1945 the city had only 43,000 inhabitants, that is roughly half of the pre-war population.

After World War II the reconstruction of the town started. In 1975, after Edward Gierek's reform of the administrative scheme of Poland, Kalisz became the seat of a separate Kalisz Voivodeship. It was abolished in 1998 and since then Kalisz is the capital of a separate powiat within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 1991 the city's feast was established on June 11, to commemorate the reaffirmation of city rights in 1282. The following year the city became a seat of a separate diocese.

[edit] Education

Kalisz is a notable centre of education in the region. It is home to 30 kindergartens, 29 primary schools and 15 junior high schools. There are also 7 colleges and a dozen or so trade schools. The city is also home to branches of the Poznań University, Poznań University of Economy and Poznań University of Science and Technology, as well as several private institutions of higher education.

[edit] Economy

Although there is little heavy industry within the city limits, Kalisz is home to several of the biggest companies in Poland. It is notable for the Calisia piano factory, but also for Winiary and Ziołopex food processing plants (the earlier is now part of the Nestlé group), Big Star jeans factory, Hellena, Jutrzenka and Kaliszanka soft drink production plants. There are also two plane engines production factories, WSK-Kalisz and Pratt & Whitney Kalisz - branch of Pratt & Whitney Canada.

[edit] Sports

[edit] Notable people

[edit] Sister cities

[edit] See also

Coordinates: 51°46′N, 18°05′E

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