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The West (Silesia and Wielkopolska)
The principal city in the southwest and the capital of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw (Breslau) can claim to be the cradle of the Polish state: it was here that the Polanie tribe built their first fortified settlement (on Ostrow Tumski Island). During the 14th century, the city fell under the rule of Bohemia, followed by the Hapsburgs in the 16th century, and later the Prussians and the German Third Reich. At the end of World War II the town was a Nazi stronghold, ‘Festung Breslau’; the German population was forced to leave and large numbers of displaced Poles from Lwów (now L’viv) in the Polish Ukraine were encouraged to move there. The mingling of the inhabitants of these two great cities has greatly shaped Wroclaw’s culture. The modern city is threaded with 90km (56 miles) of canals and tributaries of the River Oder and there are more than 100 bridges. Important sights include the 15th-century Town Hall, now the Historical Museum; the Ethnographic Museum in the Royal Palace; and the Cathedral on Ostrow Tumski (‘Cathedral Island’). The 120m (400ft) by 15m (50ft) tall painting, Panorama of the Battle of Raclawice, remains the city’s best-loved sight; painted in 1894, it celebrates the Russian army’s defeat by Tadeusz Krsciuszko’s people’s militia. Within easy travel from the city are the spas and health resorts of the Klodzko Valley, the rugged Stolowe Mountains, the ski resorts in the Karkonosze Mountains (part of which is a national park) on the border with the Czech Republic, and the many picturesque medieval (and earlier) towns in the region, such as Swidnica, Boleslawiec and Paczkow.
Wielkopolska is the core of the original Polish nation. Poznan, the sedate regional capital, stands beside the River Warta in the middle of the flatlands north of Silesia. Important sights include the Italianate Town Hall in the Old Market Square, the Gorki Palace, the 12th-century Church of St John and Przemyslaw Castle, once the seat of the Grand Dukes of Poland. The National Museum houses one of the country’s few displays of old master paintings. Watersports can be enjoyed in and on the many lakes in the woods surrounding the city. The Poznan International Trade Fair is held here every year in June.
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