KOSZALIN

Location

Lying in the north-west of Poland in the Bialogardzka Plains at the foot of picturesque Mount Chelmska which is covered with beautiful old trees, Koszalin is a modern European urban centre with infrastructure adequate for its inhabitants, business people, and Polish and foreign tourists who come here in search of relaxation. The capitol of Central Pomerania, located a mere 6 km from the Baltic Sea shore, stretches over an area of 83 square km and accommodates 120 thousand inhabitants and a few hundred thousand visitors who come here every year irrespective of the season.

History

The remote past of the town on the river Dzierzecinka is connected with Poland ruled by the Piast dynasty and later with the Western Pomeranian Duchy. For the first time Koszalin was mentioned in Great Poland’s Chronicle as one of the town sized by king Boleslaw Krzywousty in 1107. From the 10th to the 12th century Koszalin as a slave town played service functions for the famous pogan religious centre on Mount Chelmska. In the 12th century a Christian Chapel was built there which became a famous pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages. Koszalin won an independent position in Baltic trade after a victorious battle fought against Kolobrzeg in 1446 shortly after that it became a member of the Hanseatic League – a commercial organisation of North-European towns.

A big fire of 1718 consumed two-thirds of the town, hence there are so few buildings preserved from the town’s glorious past. In the 19th century Koszalin became an administrative and transport centre for Central Pomerania, an industrial and services town. It had, for example, an aircraft factory (World War I), a paper factory, poultry and salmon processing plants, a brewery, a dairy, and a farm machinery factory. After fierce fighting against Germans in Pomerania, the Soviet and Polish armies liberated Koszalin on March 4, 1945. Following the results of the Yalta Conference the town was incorporated into Poland. From February 1946 onwards it performed the role of the capital of Western Pomerania. In June 1950 it became the capital of a province. Since 1972 it has been the seat of the Koszalin – Kolobrzeg diocese. On June 1, 1991, Pope John Paul II paid a visit to the town and was greeted by the inhabitants of the whole province. In 1999 after administration reform, Koszalin became part of Western Pomerania province, where the capital is Szczecin.

Monuments

Places worthwhile seeing: Gothic cathedral, Gothic tenement house in Boguslawa II street (now the wedding palace), the Executioner’s House, an Orthodox church, city walls (13th century), St. Gertrude’s Chapel, view tower on the top of Mount Chelmska, Amphitheater, „Sanctuary of the Covenant” on Mount Chelmska, City Hall, the sculpture of Hasior „Birds of fire”, the Regional Museum.