BYDGOSZCZ

'Bydgoszcz' (; ; ) is a city in northern Poland, on the Brda and Vistula rivers, with a population of 369,151 (2004), agglomeration more than 400 000, which makes it the 8th biggest city in Poland. It has been the capital of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship (1947-1998) and before that, of the Pomeranian Voivodeship (1945-1947). Since 1999 it is also the seat of Bydgoszcz County.
Bydgoszcz is part of the metroplex Bydgoszcz-Toruń with Toruń, only 45 km away, and over 850,000 inhabitants. Bydgoszcz is the seat of the Casimir the Great university, University of Technology and Life Sciences and a conservatory as well as a Collegium Medicum. Bydgoszcz has a famous Concert Hall (Filharmonia Pomorska), opera house Opera Nova,
From the Bydgoszcz International Ignacy Paderewski Airport there are flights to Warsaw, London and Dublin as well charter flights to Antalya and Tunis. Thank to its location between Vistula and Odra water system on the Bydgoszcz channel the city is an important link in a water system connected via Noteć, Warta, Odra, Elbe with the Rhine and Rotterdam.

Contents

History

Economy

Major corporations

Education

Transport

Airports

Railway stations

Bus stations

Culture

Museums

Classical music

Popular music

Theatre

Sports

Sports clubs

Sports facilities

Sports events

Politics

Bydgoszcz constituency

Famous people from Bydgoszcz

Legends

Sister cities

See also

External links

History

Originally a fishing settlement called ''Bydgozcya'' ("Bydgostia" in Latin), the city became a stronghold for the Vistula trade routes. In the 13th century it was the site of a castellany, first mentioned in 1238. The city was occupied by the Teutonic Knights from 1331-1337, and was recovered by King Casimir III of Poland, who granted the city municipal rights on 19 April 1346. The city increasingly saw an influx of Germans and Jews after that date.
In the 15th-16th centuries Bydgoszcz was a significant site for corn trading. The Treaty of Bydgoszcz was signed in the city in 1657.
Bydgoszcz followed the history of Greater Poland until 1772, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the First Partition of Poland and incorporated into the Netze District and, later, West Prussia. During this time, a canal was built from Bydgoszcz to Nakło which connected the north-flowing Vistula River via the Brda to the west-flowing Noteć, which in turn flowed to the Oder via the Warta.
In 1807 Bydgoszcz became part of the Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 it returned to Prussian rule as part of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznań and capital of Bromberg district. After 1871 the city was part of the German Empire's Province of Posen. After World War I and the Great Poland Uprising, Bydgoszcz returned to Poland in 1919. It shifted in 1938 to the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
From 1939-45 during World War II, Bydgoszcz was occupied by Nazi Germany and annexed to the Reichsgau Wartheland. On September 3 1939, shortly after the war started, the disputed Bromberg Bloody Sunday incident occurred in which numerous Poles and Germans were killed; the incident was used by Nazi propaganda for retaliation against Poles after Bydgoszcz was occupied by the Wehrmacht on September 9. The city's Jewish citizens were repressed, as thousands of people were sent to concentration camps and/or executed. Bydgoszcz (Fordon) was the site of Bromberg-Ost, a female subcamp of Stutthof. The subcamp staffed several female SS guards (Aufseherin) and was commanded by the Oberaufseherin Johanna Wisotzki and a male commandant. A deportation camp was situated in Smukała village, now part of Bydgoszcz. According to ''Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN'', 37,000 citizens of the city died during the war.[1]
In 1945 Bydgoszcz was liberated and returned to Poland.
In 1981 Solidarity's activists were violently suppressed in Bydgoszcz.

Economy

Major corporations

★ Projprzem SA

★ Zachem SA

★ Zespół Elektrociepłowni Bydgoszcz SA

★ PESA Pojazdy Szynowe (PESA Rail Vehicles)

★ GCB Centrostal-Bydgoszcz S.A.

Education

★ Uniwersytet Technologiczno Przyrodniczy im. Jana i Jędrzeja Śniadeckich

★ Akademia Muzyczna

★ University Collegium Medicum im. Ludwika Rydygiera (Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, Akademia Medyczna)

★ Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego

★ Ośrodek Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu

★ Sekcja Wydziału Teologicznego Uniwersytetu im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

★ Kujawsko-Pomorska Szkoła Wyższa

★ Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki

★ Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Nauk Społeczno-Prawnych

★ Wyższa Szkoła Środowiska

★ Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania i Finansów

★ Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki in Łódź, Branch in Bydgoszcz

★ Nauczycielskie Kolegium Języków Obcych

★ Niepubliczne Nauczycielskie Kolegium Języków Obcych

Transport

Airports

★ Bydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport

Railway stations

★ Bydgoszcz Główna - main railway station

★ Bydgoszcz Leśna

★ Bydgoszcz Wschód

★ Bydgoszcz Zachód

★ Bydgoszcz Łęgnowo

★ Bydgoszcz Bielawy

★ Bydgoszcz Osowa Góra

Bus stations

★ PKS Bydgoszcz - operates inter-city and international bus routes

Culture

Museums

★ Muzeum Okręgowe im. Leona Wyczółkowskiego (Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum) is a municipally-owned museum. Apart from a large collection of Leon Wyczółkowski's works, it houses permanent as well as temporary exhibitions of art.
It occupies several buildings:
- Main building (Gdańska 4 St.)
- The White Granary (Mennica St.)

Classical music

★ Fiharmonia Pomorska im. Ignacego Paderewskiego (Igancy Paderwski's Concert Hall) - thanks to acoustically designed interior, it is one best classical music concert hall in Poland, if not in Europe.

Popular music

★ Concerts of popular music in Bydgoszcz are usually held in Fiharmonia Pomorska, Łuczniczka, Zawisza and Polonia stadiums.

Theatre

★ Teatr Polski im. Hieronima Konieczki (Hieronim Konieczka's Polish Theatre) - despite its name, theatre offers a wide variety of shows both of national and foreign origin. It also regularly plays hosts to a large number of touring shows. Once a year, in autumn, "Festiwal Prapremier" is organized: the most renowned Polish theatres stage their latest premieres.

★ Opera Nova (The Nova Opera)

Sports

Sports clubs

★ Ostromecko Astoria Bydgoszcz - men's basketball team playing in Dominet Bank Ekstraliga (formerly Era Basket Liga): 8th in 2003/2004 season, 6th in 2004/2005, 9th in 2005/2006. In 2006, due to lack of funding, the team was relegated to 2nd Polish League.

★ Centrostal Focus Park Bydgoszcz - women's volleyball team playing in Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball League: 2nd place in 2004/2005 season, 4th place in 2005/2006 season.

★ Delecta Chemik Bydgoszcz - men's volleyball team playing in Polish Volleyball League

★ Polonia Bydgoszcz - speedway team from the Polish Ekstraliga: 3rd place in the 2006 season.The best speedway club in Poland

★ Zawisza Bydgoszcz - football (soccer) team playing in Polish 2nd League.

Sports facilities

★ Łuczniczka Sports Centre

★ Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium

★ Polonia Stadium

Sports events

★ Speedway Grand Prix:

★
★ Grand Prix of Poland: (1998-1999, since 2001)

★
★ Grand Prix of Europe: (2000)

★ Bydgoszcz will be the host of the IAAF 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics

Politics

Bydgoszcz constituency

'Members of Polish Sejm 2005-2009' elected from Bydgoszcz constituency

★ Jan Bestry, Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland

★ Grażyna Ciemniak, Democratic Left Alliance

★ Witold Hatka, League of Polish Families

★ Sławomir Jeneralski, Democratic Left Alliance

★ Tomasz Latos, Law and Justice

★ Tomasz Markowski, Law and Justice

★ Wojciech Mojzesowicz, Law and Justice

★ Paweł Olszewski, Civic Platform

★ Teresa Piotrowska, Civic Platform

★ Maciej Świątkowski, Civic Platform

★ Andrzej Walkowiak, Law and Justice

★ Janusz Zemke, Democratic Left Alliance
'Members of Polish Senate 2005-2009' elected from Bydgoszcz constituency

★ Radek Sikorski, Law and Justice

★ Kosma Złotowski, Law and Justice

Famous people from Bydgoszcz

★ Rafał Blechacz, classical pianist

★ Zbigniew Boniek, football player

★ Teresa Ciepły, athlete

★ Tomasz Gollob, speedway rider

★ Hugo Hergesell

★ Marcin Jaskulski, journalist

★ Jan Kulczyk, businessman

★ Eberhard von Mackensen, general

★ Edmund Michał Piszcz, bishop

★ Marian Rejewski, cryptologist

★ Radek Sikorski, Polish Minister of National Defence

Legends

It is also said that Pan Twardowski spent some time in the city of Bydgoszcz, where, in his memory, a figure was recently mounted in a window of a tenement, overseeing the Old Town. At 1:13 p.m. and 9:13 p.m. the window opens and Pan Twardowski appears, to the accompaniment of weird music and devilish laughter. He takes a bow, waves his hand, and then disappears. This little show gathers crowds of amused spectators.

Sister cities

★ Cherkasy, Ukraine

★ Hartford, United States

★ Kragujevac, Serbia

★ Kremenchuk, Ukraine

★ Mannheim, Germany

★ Ningbo, People's Republic of China

★ Pavlodar, Kazakhstan

★ Patras, Greece

★ Perth, Scotland

★ Reggio Emilia, Italy

★ Tempe, United States

★ Wilhelmshaven, Germany

See also

★ Bydgoszcz (Nazi camp)

★ Bydgoszcz Department (Polish: ''Departament Bydgoski''), a unit of administrative division and local government in the Duchy of Warsaw from 1806-1815.

External links

★ Municipal website

★ Wirtualna Bydgoszcz - informator bydgoski

★ Bydgoszcz.tk

★ Canal Bydgoski