Ostrow Tumski

Just outside the center of Poznań sits Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island), the island where Poznań originated and “where Poland began” according to Pope John Paul II. According to legend, three Slav brothers known as Lech, Czech and Rus met on the tiny island after not seeing each other for many years.
To commemorate their reunion the brothers named the place poznać, after the Polish word for ‘to meet.’ From there the island thrived, with a castle erected in the 9th century and Ostrow Tumski becoming a major centre of the Piast state. More than a millennium ago one of Poland’s first rulers, Mieszko I, ushered the country into Catholicism here and soon after the first bishopric was established in 968. The first iteration of the Cathedral of Poznań was built in the second half of the 10th century, and in the island’s thousand-year history it has been home to kings and bishops alike. Remains of 19th century Prussian fortifications are still visible on the Cybina riverside, easily viewable from the Jordan Bridge. In more recent times the Communists showed their disdain for the Catholic Church’s heavy presence in Poznań by building a road across the island that bisected the Archbishop’s garden.