Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 109,800 inhabitants (1995). Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Skalmierzyce. See Kalisz County for the regional administrative area (powiat).

The city is an important industrial and commercial centre of the area, with many notable factories located there. It is also the seat of the Calisia piano factory and one of traditional centres of folk art.

History

Kalisz is now considered to be the oldest town of Poland, because it was mentioned by Ptolemy as Calisia. That town was situated in the territory of the Diduni (Vandals) in Magna Germania on the Amber Trail. Although it is still not certain whether the exact spot where the city centre is located nowadays was inhabitated in 2nd century, there are many artifacts of the Roman times in the area, pointing to the fact that it must have been one of the stops of the Roman caravans heading for the Baltic Sea.

Modern Kalisz was most probably founded in 9th century as a castellany and a minor fort. The name itself stems from the Celtic term cal which means stream, or Slavic term kal, meaning swamp or marsh. In 1106 Bolesław Krzywousty captured the town and incorporated it into his feudal domain. Between 1253 and 1260 the town was granted German town law called Środa Śląska Law after Środa Śląska in Silesia, a local variation of the Magdeburg Law, and soon started to grow. One of the richest towns of Greater Poland, during the feudal fragmentation of Poland it formed a separate duchy ruled by local branch of the Piast dynasty. After Poland was reunited, the town became a notable centre of weavery and wood production, as well as one of the cultural centres of Greater Poland. The economical development of the area was aided by a large number of Protestant Böhmische Brüder (Czech Brothers), who settled in and around Kalisz after being expelled from Bohemia. Also, Jewish settlement of Kalisz dates back to 1139.

In 1282 the city laws were confirmed by Przemysł II of Poland and in 1314 it was made the capital of the Kalisz Land, one of the Voivodeships of Poland, by king Władysław Łokietek. A notable centre of trade, Kalisz was also located more or less in the centre of Poland back then. Because of its strategic location, in 1343 king Casimir III signed there a peace treaty with the Teutonic Order. As a royal town, the city managed to defend much of its initial privileges and in 1426 a new town hall was built. Also, it was there that king Mieszko the Old is buried.

In 1574 the Jesuits were brought to Kalisz and in 1584 they opened a Jesuit College there, one of the most notable centres of education in Poland back then. However, with time the importance of Kalisz declined and its place was taken by nearby Poznań.

In 1792 the town was struck by a fire that destroyed much of its centre. The following year, following the II partition of Poland, the town was annexed by Kingdom of Prussia. In 1801 Wojciech Bogusławski built a theatre there, one of the first permanent theatres in the area.

In 1806 Kalisz was joined with the Duchy of Warsaw. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, following Yorck's Convention of Tauroggen of 1812, von Stein's Treaty of Kalisz was signed between Russia and Prussia in 1813, confirming that Prussia now was on the side of the Allies.

After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte Kalisch was annexed by Imperial Russia. The proximity of the Prussian border speeded up the economical development in the city and Kalisz, rendered Кализ in Russian, started to attract many settlers, not only from Poland, but also from German states and all over the Russian empire. In 1902 Kalisch was linked with Warsaw and Łódź by a railroad.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the proximity of the border proved disastrous for the city, as it was one of the first destroyed towns of that war. After a series of border clashes, the German army bombed the city with artillery. During the heavy fights that lasted from August 7 to August 22, 1914, the town was destroyed almost completely. Upon entering the city, the German units led by Hermann Preusker took revenge for the defence of the city by the Russian army on the civilians. 800 men were arrested and then slaughtered, while the city was set on fire and the remaining inhabitants were expelled. Out of roughly 68,000 inhabitants in 1914, only 5,000 live in the city the following year. However, by the end of the Great War much of the city centre was more or less rebuilt and many of the former inhabitants were allowed to return to their town.

After the war Kalisz became part of the, once again independent, Republic of Poland. The reconstruction continued and in 1925 the new town hall was opened. Until 1939 the town had roughly 89,000 inhabitants. After the outbreak of the Invasion of Poland (1939),World War II, the proximity of the border proved once again disastrous. Although the town was captured by the Wehrmacht almost instantly and without much fight, the city was directly annexed by Nazi Germany. By the end of World War II approximately 30,000 local Jews had been murdered. Additional 20,000 local Catholics were either murdered or expelled to the General Government or to Germany as slave workers. In 1945 the city had only 43,000 inhabitants, that is roughly half of the pre-war population.

After World War II the reconstruction of the town started. In 1975, after Edward Gierek's reform of the administrative scheme of Poland, Kalisz became the seat of a separate Kalisz Voivodeship. It was abolished in 1998 and since then Kalisz has been the capital of a separate powiat within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 1991 the city's feast was established on June 11, to commemorate the reaffirmation of city rights in 1282. The following year the city became a seat of a separate diocese.

Education

Kalisz is a notable centre of education in the region. It is home to 30 kindergartens, 29 primary schools and 15 junior high schools. There are also 7 colleges and a dozen or so trade schools. The city is also home to branches of the Poznań University, Poznań University of Economy and Poznań University of Science and Technology, as well as several other institutions of higher education.

Economy

Although there is little heavy industry within the city limits, Kalisz is home to several of the biggest companies in Poland. It is notable for the Calisia piano factory, but also for Winiary and Ziołopex food processing plants (the former is now part of the Nestlé group), Big Star jeans factory, Hellena, Jutrzenka and Kaliszanka soft drink production plants. There are also two plane engines production factories, WSK-Kalisz and Pratt & Whitney Kalisz - branch of Pratt & Whitney Canada.

Sports

Winiary Kalisz - women's volleyball team playing in Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball League:Champions of Poland,2nd place in 2003/2004 season and 1st place in 2004/2005 season. - *www.calisiassk.pl
KKS 1925 Kalisz - men's soccer team playing in Polish B-Class Soccer League. - *www.kkskalisz.pl

* Winiary Kalisz - SSK CALISIA KALISZ (Volleyball women – winner Champion Poland in 2006/07 , Champion Poland and Super champion in this the same year) * Grześki Kadra Kalisz (volleyball men) (III liga) * MKS Calisia Kalisz (Volleyball women) * UKS Augustynki Kalisz (volleyball women - jung women) * MUKS Tornado Kalisz (Volleyball team - jung men) * AZS PWSZ KALISZ (Team university)

Football:

* Calisia Kalisz * Prosna Kalisz * KKS 1925 Kalisz * KKS Włókniarz Kalisz

Basketball:

* AZS OSRiR Kalisz (II liga)

Handball:

* Szczypiorno Calisia Kalisz (II liga)

Marshalarts :

* Arkadia Kalisz (Muay Thai - Team Champion Poland) * Sensei Kalisz (judo) * ZPM POPRAWA (kick boxing) * Prosna Kalisz (box) * Kyokushinkan Kalisz (karate)

Athlete:

* KS Calisia Kalisz

Cycling:

* (KTK)Kaliskie Towarzystwo Kolarskie

Rowing:

* (KTW)Kaliskie Towarzystwo Wioślarskie

Tenis :

* (KTT)Kaliskie Towarzystwo Tenisowe Also:

* Alpamayo (climb Mountain)

* KSS Bursztyn Kalisz (shut sport)

Notable people from Kalisz

Avraham Gombiner 1633 Jewish rabbi and scholar
Wojciech Bogusławski 1757 playwright and director playwright
Cyprian Godebski 1765 freedom fighter and a poet
Dawid Flamm 1793 gynecologist
Karl Heinrich Hermes 1800-1856 journalist
Thekla von Gunkert 1810 author
Agaton Giller - (*1831 in Opatówek, Poland - +1887 in Stanisławów) - patriotic activist
Stefan Giller - (*1833 in Opatowek, Poland - +1918) - poet, an epigone of the Polish Romanticism
Adam Asnyk 1838 poet
Ludwig Adolf Neugebauer 1856 gynecologist
Juliusz Bursche 1862 bishop
Jerzy Świrski 1882 - Vice-Admiral
Maria Dąbrowska 1889 writer
Theodor Meron 1930 president of the (ICTY) and judge in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Stanisław Barcikowski, painter
Boleslaus the Pious, duke of Greater Poland
Bolesław III Rozrzutny, duke of Silesia
Izabela Cywińska, director
Augustyn Kordecki, prior of the Jasna Góra Monastery and hero of The Deluge
Jerzy Kryszak, actor
Tadeusz Kulisiewicz, artist
Bonawentura Niemojowski, journalist
Wincenty Niemojowski, journalist
Alfons Parczewski, lawyer, rector of the Wilno University
Wlasyslaw Pilars de Pilar - poet
Wojciech Siemion, actor and director
Zevi Herman Solnik, writer and Zionist
Zdzisława Sośnicka, singer
Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński, traveller and explorer
Stanisław Wojciechowski, president of Poland
Mieczysław Voigt, actor
Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski, painter
Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, musician
Kris Grzymski, archaeologist
Artur Zawisza Czarny, freedom fighter
Zvi Hirsch Chajes, 19th c. Talmudic scholar
Janina Davidska, 20th c Author
Mania Zolta, 20th c Bubba
Diana Błaszczyk, 21st c. Go Player
Iga Wyrwal, model

Twin towns

Erfurt
Holand Heerhugowaard
France Hautmont
Germany Hamm
Ukraine Kamieniec Podolski
England Preston
Slovakia Martin
Wngland Southampton
Belgium Tongeren
Italy Adria
Belgium La Louviere
Hungry Szentendre
Bialorus Mińsk

Ostrów Wielkopolski, Adria, Erfurt, Heerhugowaard, Hautmont, Kamieniec Podolski, La Louviere, Minsk (borough of Frunze), Szentendre, Southampton, Tongeren

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