The last time I was here was in November 1990; I was an election observer sent by the Polish government-in-exile to monitor the first free presidential election in locations across south-west Poland. At the time, Legnica was the HQ of the Soviet army in Poland. I remember as we were driving around the city, asking passers-by where the Hotel Cuprum (now the Qubus) was. Everyone we asked replied: "посредством железнодорожный вокзал". Finally we found a Polish speaker, we found the place. [For the record, we observed no sign of electoral fraud at the ballot boxes.]
Legnica today is a prosperous town of 100,000 people, so around the size of Worcester. Polish until 1675, then German until 1945, Lignica (as it was originally spelt) returned to Poland after WW2. The fighting for the town left a patchwork of Romanesque, Renaissance, Neoclassical, Baroque and 1950s and '60s architecture. The latter is plain, austere, mainly painted pastel yellow and beige. This is not an office city - more an industrial park with a historic centre. Intel will be building its $4.6 billion semiconductor factory near here.
Below: Legnica, like Worcester, is a cathedral city. Below: the cathedral of the Holy Apostles St Peter and St Paul, built in the latter half of the 14th century, with 19th century neo-Gothic add-ons. View from the park at the rear.
Below: the cathedral and the neo-Gothic art gallery across the road.
Left: interior of the cathedral. Again, that moment of familiarity, that feeling that I am European, I am in Europe. I have been here for centuries. Borders move backwards and forward, but the culture abides.
Below: the eclectic mix of historic and cut-and-paste postwar architecture reminds me of many towns of western Poland - Głogów, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Wałbrzych, Zielona Góra - and even
Poznań's old market square (the modernist replacement for the old arsenal building). In the distance the towers of the the church of St John the Baptist.
Below: the city's shopping mall, Galeria Piastów, sensitively housed in old buildings straddling both sides of the streets. Modern retail in a traditional setting. In the distance the towers of the Lutheran church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Below: car-free streets - the future of European cities. Looking along ulica Najświetszej Marii Panny towards the cathedral on a bright afternoon day - an almost Hanseatic scene - all that's missing is the sea. This is the Europe I love.
Below: the new town hall (19th century neo-Gothic; the old town hall - 18th century Baroque now houses the city's theatre administration and wardrobe.
Left: poster for a vaudeville show subtitled 'last night of the Weimar republic'. Fascination with prewar history is fashionably strong across the Polish lands that were once German;
no longer is there a taboo or fear attached to delving into that past.
Below: ulica Murarska tunnels under a brick-built tenement - it looks like a defensive wall; there's three stories of housing above.
Below: reminder of bygone times: narrow-gauge tramlines left in the cobbled street. Electric trams plied the streets of Liegnitz from 1898 to 1945, and in Legnica from 1946 until 1968 when they were decommissioned.
Why 1946? Well, until 7 May of that year, the city's name in Polish was - as it had been for centuries - Lignica. That name is attested on this plaque, by the entrance to the railway station.
Not quite consistent with the dates... "20 August 1945. On the historic anniversary of the takeover of the railways on the ancient lands of the Piast (dynasty). The railway pioneers of the Lignica junction. 6 October 1946." The stonemasons' workshop is engraved bottom right, so before the nationalisation of every business that functioned.
Below: I thoroughly recommend the hotel I stayed at - the Kamieniczka (ul. Młynarska 15). Friendly service, the best hotel breakfast I've ever encountered - innovative and fresh - and - bonus - a group of Swedish Harley-Davidson owners and their ten bikes. Great value for 200zł for a night, single room.
Below: get your tongue around this one. Between Legnica and Wrocław, not far from the site of the new Intel factory - I guess this will be a cool location for expat managers and specialists to rent or buy homes. Say it "Sh-ched-zhyk-o-VEE-tseh".
It was in Legnica's Hotel Cuprum in November 1990 that I heard the funniest Polish joke ever - ask me to tell you it (if you're not easily offended!).
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