TRZCIANKA
Situated ca. 95 km north-west of Poznań, Trzcianka is a town that together with Czarnków is the seat of Czarnków-Trzcianka County authorities. More than 50% of the Commune’s area is occupied by forests, which surround Trzcianka.
History
The name Trzciana Łąka [‘Reedy Meadow’], akin to the one in use today, first appears in a 1565 record. Trzcianka gained its city rights during the reign of Augustus II Wettin, called ‘the Strong’ (1697–1704; 1709–1733), in 1731. The seventeenth century witnessed development of clothmaking industry locally, which was owed to the town’s then-owners. A century later, the town of Trzcianka had raised to become one of Wielkopolska’s major cloth craft hubs. The town’s crest is of interest as it features a bull-calf [Polish, ciołek] being a nobility sign of the eighteen-century owner Stanisław Poniatowski, father of the future king of Poland (also named Stanisław/Stanislaus).
Following the First Partition of Poland, 1772, the town formed an integral part of Prussia. In the years 1807–1815, it was part of the Duchy of Warsaw, and thereafter, by means of the Vienna Congress resolutions (1815), was overwhelmed by the influence zone of the western partitioner.
The nineteenth century marked intensified industry and increased importance of the German population, the factor that contributed to the town’s remaining within the limits of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and subsequently, the Third Reich (1933–1945).
Trzcianka was liberated on January 27, 1945 by the Red Army’s 1st Byelorussian Front. Today, the town is an industrial and trading hub; the lake Sarcz, situated in its northern part, enables it to function as a tourist and recreation centre as well.
Worth Seeing
There is a town hall situated in Sikorskiego Street – today, home to the Municipal Office. Going further up, we can find a neo-baroque St. John the Baptist’s church dating to 1914–1916, with its asymmetrically situated tower as an interesting architectural solution.
In Mochnackiego Street are, now redeveloped, so-called weavers’ granaries being houses built in late 18th/early 19th century.
There is a museum in Żeromskiego Street, presenting collections of regional objects.
A sumptuous specimen of platanus hispanica classed as a nature monument stands in the town’s central area.
