Poland [antikvár]

These days Poland occupies the territory marked by borders running close to the historic borders of the Polish State at the end of the 10th century.Polish territory went through similar phases of historic development to those that were typical for other European countries. About 1500 BC, there began the thousand year long settlement process of proto-Slavo-nic and Slavonic people. The tribe of Polanie which settled in the middle part of the Warta river basin was the most dynamic of those that lived in the area which is marked by the rivers Bug and Oder, the Baltic Sea, and the Carpatian Mountains. Wislanie, the other major tribe, dwelt in the basin of the upper Vistula. All Slavonic tribes were agrarian. Soil cultivation and animal breeding co-existed with fishing, hunting, and foraging. Various crafts were developed as well, especially metallurgy, black-smithery, and pottery. A Gaelic chronicle writer who travelled through Poland noted in his diary that: "foresty as it is, the country is nonetheless rich in gold and silver, bread and meat, fish and honey; a country where the air is healthy, soil fertile, forest honeyflown and water fishful". People who collectively exploited nature lived in dwellings consisting of a few households built around a square or irregular street. The sedentary people organised small territorial units called opole (off-fields or around-fields) about two centuries before the origination of the Polish State. Larger units among them: grody (the fenced), were fortified settlements as early as in 18th century BC. Grody were fortified with a moat and a palisade or mould and wood bulwarks holding a gate, as was the case with a preserved Grod of the so called Lusatian culture in Biskupin. Grody disappeared with the demise of the Lusatian culture and reappeared several hundred years later, in the time of the formation of the Polish State, as fortified centres of administration and political power.The city of Gniezno was the main centre of Polanie tribe. A Large grod of many sections was founded on a hill elevated above the lake and forest region. The hill looked like a bird's nest and that is how the city came to be named. Two fortified suburbs where craft people lived were attached to the main fortification, and supplemented with an open settlement fortrade people, which later evolved into a market centre of the town.Polanie ruled by the native dynasty of Piast began successful territorial expansion as early as in the 9th century, and subordinated the neighbouring Slavonic tribes. The State and the tribe of Wislanie whose major centre of power was Krakow or Wislica on the Nida, a tributary of the upper Vistula, was conquered by the Polanie at the end the 10th century. This way the State of Poland which was called so after the Polanie Tribe was put on the map.The founder and first historic ruler was Mieszko I. Adoption of Christianity in 966 enabled him to complete the years long process of the consolidation of power, and secure the territorial integrity of the young Polish State. After joining the European family of Christian Nations, Poland was no longer a pagan country in need of conversion by force and thus was able to form state institutions in relative peace. The Church sanctioned the existing social order, enhanced the authority of the ruler, as well as provided a qualified work force to administrate the state and support international contacts. Adoption of Christianity opened Poland to western civilisation. Along with the progress of Christianity stone temples were built in place of old wooden churches or pagan temples and began to emerge among wooden households and fortifications. A rotunda type building came to Poland from neighbouring Moravia. The well known rotunda of Virgin Mary on Wawel Hill was erected as a Castle Chapel in the beginning of the reign of Piast dynasty. The Gniezno rotunda coming from the same time was built over the tomb of St. Wojciech, the first martyr in the land. A grod chapel of Ostrow Legnicki near Gniezno was connected to a quadrangle in duke's quarters. Similar temples were built in the 11 th and 12th centuries in many locations around Poland eg. Wislica, Strzelin, Przemysl, Plock and Strzelno. Most of them have been preserved only as foundation walls or relicts within the later structures. Only the rotundas of St. Nicholas in Cieszyn and St. Procopius in Strzelno have been preserved in their original form. Wawel Chapel discovered in 1917 in the walls of the royal kitchen itself built in the 16th century enriched5