Poznań

Poznań (Latin: Posnania; German: Posen; Yiddish: פוזנא or פּױזן Poyzn) is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 551,627 in the end of 2010. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be the first capital of the kingdom of Poland.

Poznań is now Poland's fifth largest city. It is the historical capital of the Wielkopolska ("Greater Poland") region, and is currently the administrative capital of the province called Greater Poland Voivodeship.

Poznań is today one of the largest Polish centers of trade, industry, sports, education, tourism and culture. More recently it also claims to be an important design center as a number of initiatives were undertaken: "Concordia Design", "Poznan School of Form", "Art&Fashion Festival" to mention only a few. Poznan is also becoming a know-how hub with many technological parks and transfer of knowledge centers (the oldest one started in 1995 is "Poznan Science and Technology Park".

The city hosts regular international trade fairs and was the host city for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2008, a key stage in the creation of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Poznań was one of the host cities for the association football tournament UEFA Euro 2012. The city also hosts a number of rowing world cup events by the Malta lake (for example "ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships" in 1990, 2001, and again in 2010). Also, a great number of various international festivals takes place in the city - "Transatlantyk International Music and Film Festival", "Malta International Theater Festival" and "Maski Festival" to name just a few. Malta Theatre Festival gave birth to many off-theater groups, expressing new ideas in an already rich theatrical background of the city. Thus, Poznan with a great deal of off-theaters and their performances has recently become a new Polish off-theater performance center.

In 2012 the Poznan's Art and Business Center "Old Brewery" ("Stary Browar") won a competition organized by National Geographic Traveler and was given the first price as one of the seven "New Polish Wonders". Poznan has been placed at high positions (very often the first one in Poland) in many ratings as a city with a very high quality of life. The city has also won many times a price awarded by "Superbrands" for a very high quality brand of city of Poznan (city as a brand).