Kórnik is a town with about 7,600 inhabitants (2018), located in western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, about south-east of the city of

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the

Wielkopolska Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

region and the

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

because of the historical castle and arboretum, which is amongst the oldest and richest collections of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s and

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s in Poland, and one of Europe's largest arboretums.

History

Until 1961 Kórnik was separate from Bnin, situated just 1 km apart. Both towns were founded in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

(Bnin gained

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1395, and Kórnik in 1426), but Bnin lost its town rights in 1934, and in 1961 it became part of Kórnik. The enlarged town also includes the former settlement of Prowent, birthplace of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning poet

Wisława Szymborska Maria Wisława Anna SzymborskaVioletta Szostagazeta.pl, 9 February 2012. ostęp 11 February 2012 (; 2 July 1923 – 1 February 2012) was a Polish people, Polish poet, essayist, translator, and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Liter ...

Mieszko I of Poland Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

founded an early Polish stronghold in present-day Bnin in the 10th century. Kórnik was first mentioned in documents in the 12th century, while the town of Bnin started to develop in the 13th century, and a

castellany A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

was located in Bnin since 1232. After granting town rights, both Kórnik and Bnin were

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

s of

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

, administratively located in the Pyzdry County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. Kórnik was initially owned by the Górka family until 1592. The

Łodzia coat of arms Łodzia (obsolete Polish for "boat") is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by many noble families of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. A variant serves as the coat of arms of the city of Łódź (the city's nam ...

of the Górka family is the coat of arms of Kórnik since. Afterwards the town was held by the Czarnkowski, Grudziński and Działyński families. On 11 November 1918, an infantry company, which later became part of the Polish 69th Infantry Regiment, was founded in Kórnik. On 27 December, the company left Kórnik to aid Polish insurgents in

. After the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in September 1939, the town was occupied and annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

from 1939 to 1945 as part of ''Landkreis Schrimm'',

Reichsgau Wartheland The Reichsgau Wartheland (initially Reichsgau Posen, also Warthegau) was a Nazi Germany, Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Second Polish Republic, Polish territory Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, annexed in 1939 during World War ...

. It was renamed ''Burgstadt'' in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin. Already on 27 September 1939 the Germans confiscated and robbed the rich museum and library of the

Kórnik Castle Kórnik Castle ( or ''Zamek Kórnicki'') is a castle in the Polish town of Kórnik, which was constructed in the 14th century. The current neogothic design and remodeling was done in 1855 partly on the basis of architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel's ...

. On 20 October 1939, the German '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' carried out a public execution of 16

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

at the Market Square as part of

Operation Tannenberg Operation Tannenberg (, ) was one of the first Anti-Polish sentiment, anti-Polish extermination actions by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland from September 1939 to January 1940. The operation was conducted ...

. Among the victims was pre-war mayor Teofil Wolniewicz. Inhabitants of Kórnik were also among 15 Poles murdered on the same day in a public execution in nearby Mosina. The purpose of the executions was to pacify and terrorize Poles. Nevertheless, the Polish resistance movement was still organized in the town.

Polish underground press The Polish underground press, devoted to prohibited materials ( sl. , lit. semitransparent blotting paper or, alternatively, , lit. second circulation), has a long history of combatting censorship of oppressive regimes in Poland. It existed th ...

was printed in Kórnik. Local teachers were also among Polish teachers murdered in the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

.Wardzyńska, p. 213-214

Sights

The town's notable sites include: *

, built in the 14th century, but designed and rebuilt in the 18th century in

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style by architect

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

for the Działyński family. * Kórnik Arboretum, established in the early 19th century by Count Tytus Działyński, later enriched with new species and varieties by his heirs, his son Jan Kanty Działyński and grandson Władysław Zamoyski. It is the largest and oldest arboretum in Poland and fourth largest arboretum in Europe, with over 3300 taxa of trees and shrubs. * Town halls of both Kórnik and Bnin. That of Kornik was built in 1907 as a neo-Baroque city hall; Bnin's is a piece of original 18th-century late

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

. * Kórnik Library (''Bibliotheca Cornicensis''), one of the most famous Polish libraries, founded by

Tytus Działyński Count Tytus Adam Działyński (1796–1861, son of Ksawery, father to Jan Kanty) was a Polish nobleman, political activist and protector of arts and a Prussian politician. Biography Tytus was born into the rich and influential Polish nobl ...

in 1828. Currently the library, despite being looted by the German

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s during

, is one of the five largest libraries in Poland and contains roughly 400,000 volumes, including 30,000 books more than 150 years old, and 14,000 manuscripts. Since 1953 it has been a part of the

National Library of Poland The National Library (, ''BN'') is the national library of Poland, subject directly to the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The main seat of the National Library is located in the Ochota district of Warsaw, adjacent to the Mo ...

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kórnik is twinned with: *

Königstein im Taunus Königstein im Taunus (, ) is a health spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Owing to its advantageous location ...

, Germany *

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

, Ukraine

Distinguished residents

* Edmund Zalinski (1849–1909), American military engineer and inventor *

(1923–2012),

-winning poet * Mateusz Taciak (born 1984), racing cyclist

Gallery

File:Castillo de Kórnik, Kórnik, Polonia, 2016-12-21, DD 04.jpg,

and its moat File:Kornik, oficyna w zespole zamkowym, 2 pol. XVIII, nr. rej. 2422A z 12.03.1930 (1).JPG, One of the Kórnik Castle outbuildings File:Arboretum Kórnik staw.jpg, A pond in the arboretum next to the castle File:Iglesia de Todos los Santos, Kórnik, Polonia, 2016-12-21, DD 14.jpg, All Saints' Church File:Kornik, pl. Niepodleglosci 1, Ratusz, pol. XIX, 1908-09, nr. rej. 145WlkpA z 19.09.2003.JPG, Town hall File:Dom urodzin Wisławy Szymborskiej 01.jpg, Birthplace of

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Populated lakeshore places in Poland Poznań County