Another plague ravaged Poznań in 1174. At that time, people did not yet have the knowledge and ability to diagnose what bacteria or virus it was caused by. We can only assume that it could have been plague, cholera, typhus or smallpox. Since then, recurrent epidemics of various diseases have appeared in Wielkopolska every dozen or so years. The next reference refers to the years 1205-1207.

The problem was the poor sanitary condition in the cities and the concentration of the population in a small area. As a result of the lack of medical knowledge, medics counteracted the epidemic in the dark. On many occasions, improper treatments have led to further deterioration of the situation. They entailed many casualties and often caused a significant decrease in the city’s population.

The most devastating was the plague epidemic of 1347-1349, which led to the death of a third of the population in Europe. In 1514, an epidemic in Poznań claimed the lives of 10,000 people, i.e. 50% of the population. Epidemics in Poznań: the year 1542 brought about 5 thousand victims. Also in 1599, about 5,000 inhabitants died (at that time it constituted 33% of the population of Poznań).

The epidemic was facilitated by warfare. This was also the case during the Northern War. Between 1708 and 1709 the so-called “Great Plague” took place. It was a cholera epidemic that caused the death of about 9,000 people. It is assumed that it was as much as 75% of the population of Poznań, which is proportionally the highest in our history. However, the number of deaths seems to have been inflated at the time due to expected tax breaks. This does not change the fact that the plague was catastrophic for the city and affected its history. After the Northern War and cholera epidemics, new settlers – the Bambers – began to be checked in Poznań.

Later plagues were not so fraught with consequences. Epidemics of diarrhoea (1732), cholera (1831) and typhus (1866) were recorded. The last recurrences of infectious diseases appeared in Poznań in the years 1880-1890. They were caused by the poor condition of the intake in the Warta River. The improvement of the sanitary situation in Poznań was facilitated by the expansion of the sewage system and the construction of a water intake in Dębin in 1902.

We wish you good health and invite you to explore Poznań along the trail of epidemics, fires and floods. Of course, as soon as the epidemiological situation allows. We offer safe individual sightseeing tours of Poznań with photos and video shots shot with a drone – link.

Artykuł Outbreaks in Poznań pochodzi z serwisu City Guide Poznań.

The second example is located in the vicinity of Poznań, precisely in the Kórnik Castle. On the first floor there is the Moorish Hall, built during the lifetime of Tytus Działyński. Like the fountain of lions, this hall is also modelled on the Alhambra, which you can see in our gallery below. It was supposed to serve as a library, but it became more of an armory and a hall of souvenirs An interesting fact is that the columns in the Alhambra are made of marble, while in Kórnik they are made of cast iron, which is a rare solution in residential architecture.

Another area of relationships is people, and here we have two examples as well. The first is the figure of St. Isidore, the patron saint of Madrid and farmers, who, according to legend, was helped in the field by an angel and he himself had a vision. He was born in Madrid, hence he became its patron. Every year on the 15th of May there is a celebration in his honor, and in the small city of Estepona in the south of Spain, the same day is celebrated with an alcoholic drink (a mixture of brandy and an energy drink) named after Saint Isidore. The painting with this saint is in the Cathedral in one of the chapels (we do not say in which one – we invite you to search).

The second person who connects Poznań with the country of flamenco and bullfighting is, of course, Lech’s coach Jose Maria Bakero. He started his career as a footballer at the age of 17, played for FC Barcelona until 1997, m.in, after which he retired and took up professional coaching of football teams. Working with Lech was not his first assignment in Poland, as in 2009 he became the coach of Polonia Warszawa. He doesn’t speak Polish, so he is accompanied by an interpreter at every training session and press conference. His comparison is well-known: “Lech for the fans in Poznań is like Barca for the Catalans”, which refers to the high pressure under which the Lech coach is placed. There is no shortage of criticism, but he gained some recognition with a very professional reception of the ball during the match between Lech Poznań and Sporting Braga. See for yourself.

Spanish culture also appeared in Poznań in the form of painting. Our National Museum has a gallery of foreign art, which consists of, m.in, works by Spanish painters such as Francisco de Zurbaran, José Ribera, Diego Velazquez, Juan Careño de Miranda and many others. It is the only such extensive collection of paintings by painters from this country.

The above examples are undoubtedly stronger ties between our city and Spain. There are also smaller ones that can certainly be found in other cities. These include a week of Spanish cinema at the Muza cinema, Eva Rufo’s flesh-and-blood Spanish dance school, the Duende flamenco festival in November, and the Spanish restaurant Muchos Potatos.

As you can see, there are more examples than you might expect. There are a few more treats, but it’s our Spanish-speaking guides that they want to leave for their Spanish groups:)

Artykuł What does Poznań have to do with Spain? pochodzi z serwisu City Guide Poznań.

The first article in our series “Visiting Poznań Museums” is Medieval Art at the National Museum.The described exhibition includes monuments of Romanesque and Gothic sculpture from the 12th to the 16th century. There are also quite a few objects of medieval artistic craftsmanship. The monuments come from Wielkopolska, Silesia and the Lubusz Land. A visit to Poznań’s museums will allow you to get to know outstanding objects of great importance for a researcher of the art of the Middle Ages. These are: fragments of Romanesque sculptures from Strzelno, the figure of St. Catherine from the workshop, the Master of Beautiful Madonnas, the painting of the Sorrowful Christ from Brzeg (1443). As well as a late-Gothic painting of the Homage of the Magi from the end of the 15th century, as well as a thematically extremely rare processional sculpture of Christ on a donkey. It is not always easy to see and understand its essential values from a distance of several centuries.

Sculptures and paintings on sacred themes

Sculptures and paintings on sacred subjects were objects of worship at the time of their creation. At the same time, they were a didactic instrument, a “bible of the poor” of the society of that time, recorded with a chisel and brush. Today, they are an important document that allows us to learn about the culture of the Middle Ages, the beliefs and customs of the people of that distant era. In addition, she sets high formal requirements for herself, is guided by her own aesthetics, her own sense of beauty. They were legible both in the austere composition of the twelfth-century tympanum and in the lyrical charm of the Madonna.The works of medieval art were created in the workshops of guild artists of masters with a high level of skill, settled in large centers. There are also works of craftsmen from more modest provincial workshops. The work in the guild workshop was collective. The master – the workshop manager, who signed a contract for the execution of the work, supervised the whole and usually worked on its most important parts. For example, in the altar there are paintings or sculptures of the central part and the inner wings. Entrusting the less important fragments to helpers. That is why we often notice, within one ensemble, the heterogeneity of the artistic level and the differences in the style of performance. Archival documents have provided a large number of names or surnames of guild masters. Usually, it is difficult to associate specific, preserved works with them. Bearing the artist’s signature on them was one of the exceptions. Therefore, these are anonymous works, hypothetically only attributed to artists known from documents. Comparative research, on the other hand, allows for a grouping of monuments with common features belonging to the same period and style trend. Technical issues, efficiency of workmanship and solidity of the material used were a very important matter in medieval workshops, regulated by guild regulations. The paintings were painted on boards (linden, pine, sometimes oak) which were covered with chalk soil. Tempera paints were used, and the background on which the floral or geometric ornament was imprinted was covered with gilding. The sculptures also had multi-coloured polychrome and gilding. Unfortunately, such polychrome was often covered by layers of later unskilful repainting, which had to be removed in the conservation studio. The most important order for the guild workshop was the production of a magnificent altar in terms of sculpture and painting. Such work often lasted for many years. A visit to Poznań’s museums will allow you to get to know three relatively well-preserved triptychs (wardrobe altars, tripartite altars), showing various systems of decoration. An early Gothic triptych from Szydłów in the Lubusz Land (ca. 1400) with an elongated reredo, filled with small, bas-relief figures of the apostles and Mary, standing under canopies made of delicate slides, characteristic of altars from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, represents the type of the century. Richer, sculptural and pictorial decoration is filled with the late-Gothic triptych of St. Martha Magdalene (Wrocław workshop, ca. 1500): in the central part there are three large, full-plastic figures of saints (Mary Magdalene, Martha and their guardian bishop Maximilian), and in the panels of painted wings there are colorful, multi-figure scenes from the history of Mary Magdalene, as they were told in the popular “Golden Legend”. A small triptych from Ulesia (early 19th century) XVI century) With only three sculptures and a painting on the back of the wings, 33 is an example of a modest altar that could have adorned a village wooden church. Sightseeing in Poznan museums that will be planned and carried out by our team. Up-to-date information about exhibitions, the museum’s offer and price list can be found on  the website of the  National Museum. If you want to see what the museum building looks like – watch the shot from Liberty Square.

Artykuł Medieval art in Poznań museums pochodzi z serwisu City Guide Poznań.