Wągrowiec

The county city located about 50 kilometres to the north east of Poznań.

Near by the road from Wągrowiec to Gniezno (before Łaziska), on a hill between the pines, we can find a peculiar tomb in the shape of a pyramid. Here is the gravesite of Franciszek Łakiński (1787-1845), the Napoleonic calvary captain. He received the War order of Virtuti Militari for his military contributions (which is Poland’s highest military decoration for heroism at war and one of the oldest military decorations in the world) and the Legion of Honour, the French decoration.

After retiring from a military service, he settled in Wągrowiec and this is the place where he died. He left a will through which a substantial amount of money was donated to a hospital, an orphanage and shoes for poor children. Also, every year, each 6 married couples who were joined together at the day of his name-day were receiving a percentage from 6 000 thalers which was a fair amount of money to settle down.

Before his death he expressed the wish to be buried in the tomb shaped as a pyramid. So the tomb about 10 metres high was built; in the shape of a prism with a quadrangular base. It is closed with a metal door, in the past the door had an inscription wrought in iron. Around the pyramid there are pillars crowned with the napoleonic eagles – they got lost during the World War II. In some distance from the tomb people can also admire a column with the baroque shapes under which captain’s horse was buried, according to tradition. The area around the pyramid was planted with the pine trees. Łakiński was supposed to say that when the pine trees will grow taller then his pyramid, Poland will regain it’s independence. These prophetic words became true after World War I.