Kalisz, Provincial capital in Greater Poland, Poland.
Kalisz is a regional capital in Greater Poland Voivodeship, spreading along both banks of the Prosna River and combining medieval lanes with nineteenth-century architecture and modern shopping areas. The center gathers restored townhouses, open squares and parks that invite leisurely walks.
The settlement appears in the Geography of Ptolemy in the second century and served as a junction on the Amber Road linking the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages, it received town rights and grew into a trading hub before wars and fires in the twentieth century destroyed much of the built fabric.
Locals refer to their home as one of the oldest recorded settlements in present-day Poland, a fact reflected in street names and monuments throughout the center. Visitors encounter traces of the Jewish community in preserved cemeteries and memorial plaques recalling centuries of shared urban life.
The main railway station sits close to the center and links the city with Warsaw, Poznań and other larger towns through regular connections. Buses reach smaller communities in the surrounding countryside, and the center is easy to explore on foot.
During the nineteenth century, several piano factories opened here and supplied instruments across Europe, earning the city a reputation as a center for musical instrument craftsmanship. This tradition ended with the First World War, when many workshops were destroyed or relocated.
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