Archbishop Palace in Poznan

Some type of bishops’ residence must have stood near the Cathedral from the time it was built. The earliest written reference to it comes from 1404 and mentions a structure erected by bishop Wojciech Jastrzebiec. The bishops’ residence, repeatedly destroyed by wars or floods, has changed its architectural shape over the centuries. Today it is an eclectic three – wing edifice.

In the small square in front of the palace there is a late Baroque statue of St John Nepomucen from ca. 1730, moved here in 1957. On the west side of the square is the building of the Metropolitan Curia. It was built in 1834 according to Traeger’s architectural design and partially rebuilt in 1870 and around 1920 in accordance with designs made by Marian Andrzejewski. Parallel to it, slightly further to the west, there is a Baroque – Classicist building of the former curacy, built on earlier foundations in 1772 and rebuilt in 1859, most probably by Karl Heinrich Schinkel. Above the west entrance there is a bust of Jan Kochanowski and in the nearby square there is a monument of the poet. In 1976 two stone slabs from 1598 and 1715 bearing inscriptions related to the curacy history were built into the northern wall.