I visited Gniezno today. Nowadays it is a rather sleepy town, but more than a 1000 years ago Gniezno was the cradle of the Polish state and its main political and religious centre. Below I will explain why Gniezno played an important role in Polish history. However, we must start with a legend that is connected to the city and explains its name.

Lech, Czech and Rus were three Slavic brothers who went hunting. They all chased a different animal and went in different directions chasing them which explains the location of the different Slavic peoples: Czech went Westwards, Rus eastwards and Lech (the statue on the first photo) went to the north. Lech chased a white eagle, found its nest, and engaged in a fierce battle. When he saw the white eagle in the red light of the setting sun, he saw this as a sign to settle there. He named his town Gniezno after the Polish word for nest, gniazdo. The white eagle became the symbol of Poland. Its white colour and the red light formed the basis for the Polish coat of arms and flag.

Of course, this is a myth made up to explain things afterwards. In fact, Gniezno had already been settled since the stone age. Its hills and proximity to water were the basis for a great location, not an Eagle nest. In the 8th century Slavic people settled on the hills of Gniezno and it turned into an important holy site for their pagan religion. In the 10th century a fort was also build on the hills by the rulers of the Piast dynasty. Duke Mieszko converted to Christianity and built a cathedral in Gniezno. The remains of St.Adalbert, who played a key role in the conversion of Poland to Christianity, were deposited in this newly built cathedral by Mieszko’s son, Boleslaw I, who also set up bishoprics in Poland in cooperation with the German emperor. Boleslaw I became the first king of Poland, with Gniezno as its first capital, and was crowned in the cathedral in 1025.

Multiple Polish kings were crowned in Gniezno afterwards, but after the city was destroyed, the capital was moved to Krakow where future kings would be crowned. The cathedral remained important and up to this day it is the seat of the highest bishop (primate) of Poland.  

Originally posted on Instagram on February 4, 2023