Pila travel guide — Pila tourism and travel information

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Pila travel guide

about Pila

Piła (German name Schneidemühl) is a town in north-western Poland with 77,000 inhabitants (2001). Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodship (since 1999), previously capital of Piła Voivodship (1975-1998). Piła is the largest town in the northern part of Greater Poland, at now is capital of a county. The town is beautifully located on the Gwda river and is famous for its' green areas, parks and dense forests nearby. It is a very important point of roads and rail roads.

Pila history

Piła was founded in 1380 on the Magdeburg Law as a small village of woodcutters. The document was most probably issued by king Jadwiga of Poland, but it did not survive. The first mention of Piła comes from a church document from March 31, 1451. Piła soon grew and became a private town of Opaliński family. In 1480 Maciej Opaliński ceded the town to king Kazimierz Jagiellończyk. On March 4, 1513 the town was relocated by king Sigismund the Old. Piła was granted self-government and vast economical autonomy. Because of that it soon became one of the main centres of wood industry in the area with several sawmills and a paper factory.

In 16th century the town was rented by Bnińscy and Górkowie families, who founded the local Gothic City House. In 1503 the town had 153 houses, two churches and the City House, as well as several guilds. In 1605 king Zygmunt III Waza gave Piła to his second wife, Konstancja. In 1626 a fire destroyed most of the city (only two buildings were made of brick). Piła was rebuilt rapidly thanks to funds granted by Konstancja. New houses were constructed of brick and stone and the town was reconstructed in plain renaissance style. However, during The Deluge on July 24, 1655 the Swedish forces captured the city and pillaged it. Piła was also pillaged and damaged during the consecutive Great Northern and Seven Years' Wars.

After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 it was annexed by Prussia. In 1806, together with most of Great Poland, it was recaptured by the Duchy of Warsaw, but in 1815 the Congress of Vienna granted it to Prussia again. The Polish language was banned from offices and education and the city saw significant influx of German settlers. In 1834 the city was again struck by a fire that destroyed large part of the city centre and the city archives. It was reconstructed shortly afterwards.

In 1851 it was connected to Berlin and Bydgoszcz by a railroad. By the end of 19th century the city, then renamed to Schneidemühl, became one of the most important railway nodes of eastern Prussia and one of the biggest towns in the Duchy of Poznań. It was turned into a military garrison town. Until 1871 Piła belonged to the Grand Duchy of Poznań, but was incorporated into Province of Posen of German Empire, after it was created.

After the World War I the city was not included into newly-reborn Poland. After the Great Poland Uprising the new Polish-German border ran 5 kilometres south of the city. In 1922 Schneidemühl became a centre of local administration of Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen. The city experienced a short period of fast growth followed by a period of decline in the early thirties. High unemployment and ineffectivity of local administration led to a rising support for the NSDAP. In 1938 included in Pommern. During the World War II the city was included into the Pommerstellung line of fortifications. In 1945 the town was declared a festung by Adolf Hitler. It was captured by the joint Polish and Soviet forces after two weeks of heavy fights. The city was destroyed in 75% and almost 90% of the historical city centre was in ruins.

After the war Piła was returned to Poland. The historical city centre was restored only partially. In 1975 Piła became the capital of the newly-established Piła Voivodship, which started a period of fast development of industry in the area. Currently Piła is one of the most important cities of the region. It is famous for its green areas and parks, as well as for its speedway club Polonia Piła.

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Pila real estate

City Travel Guide comes with Pila real estate guide with several tips on home valuation, realtors comparison, secrets on finding the "right" home, loans guide and other helpful real estate advices. Our partners also maintain Pila property for sale and rental listings, real estate laws and reviews. We will try to help you with buying property in Poland, choosing real estate agents, property finders, relocation help, and information for English speakers wanting to buy real estate in Pila.

Pila travel books

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pila".

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