Superlatives crop up repeatedly when relating the story of this island on the confluence of the Warta and Cybina rivers.

Mieszko I chose this place as the capital of his dukedom. He fortified his Poznań grad so strongly that it became one of the mightiest strongholds in early Piast Poland. We cannot say for certain that he was baptised here but this is definitely the site of Poland’s oldest diocese and oldest cathedral. The royal tombs of the first Piasts are in the basement. The tomb of Bp. Izdbieński, made by Poland’s greatest renaissance sculptor, Jan Michałowicz from Urzędów, is inside. The Archdiocesan Museum is not far from the cathedral. This is housed in the  nearby Lubrański Academy – Poland’s oldest school of modern instruction in the spirit of humanism. The museum collection includes the oldest turret-shaped monstrance in Poland, a gift for the Corpus Christi Sanctuary in Poznań from Władysław Jagiełło. A monument to Jan Kochanowski, who served the cathedral as parish provost for many years, stands in front of the museum. This is the most lucrative position the poet ever held.