Piła, Urban municipality in Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland.
Piła is a town in Greater Poland Voivodeship that sits on railway routes linking Poznań with Szczecin and Bydgoszcz with Krzyż Wielkopolski. Around 71,846 people live in this transport junction, which lies near large forested areas and includes several parks within its boundaries.
The settlement grew from a fishing village and received royal town status under King Casimir IV Jagiellon, gaining self-government and judicial rights. Over the following centuries the town changed hands several times, shaping the mix of building styles visible today.
Both the German name Schneidemühl and the Polish name Piła refer to sawmills, recalling the timber trade that shaped the town's early economy. Today the streets preserve buildings from different periods, reflecting the layers of settlement and use over the centuries.
The town is easy to reach by rail because several lines intersect here, and regional buses connect surrounding villages. Visitors will find parks for walking within the town, while nearby forests offer trails for longer outings.
In the 19th century a project to drill an artesian well went badly wrong and flooded large parts of the town. The water burst out uncontrolled and had to be sealed off, an event still remembered in local accounts.
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