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Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum is housed inside the 16th-century Górka Palace, which sits in the southeastern corner of the Stary Rynek. Before entering the museum, stop and have a look at the fine Renaissance doorway on the building's eastern façade. The museum itself presents the prehistory of the region, from the Stone Age to the early medieval period, as well as an extensive Egyptian collection.
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Archdiocesan Museum
Archdiocesan Museum houses a collection of sacred art from the 12th century onwards. It is within the walls of the Lubrański Academy (Akademia Lubrańskiego), also known as the Collegium Lubranscianum, the first high school in Poznań (1518).
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Arsenal City Art Gallery
The Arsenal City Art Gallery partly atones for its external design sins by hosting temporary exhibitions of modern art. It is housed in an old arsenal site.
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Cathedral
Today Ostrów Tumski is a tiny, quiet ecclesiastical quarter radiating an air of history, dominated by Poznań's monumental, double-towered Cathedral . Basically Gothic with additions from later periods, most notably the baroque tops of the towers, the cathedral was badly damaged in 1945 and took 11 years to rebuild.
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Church of St John of Jerusalem
Church of St John of Jerusalem. One of the oldest brick churches in the country, this late-12th-century building was extended in the Gothic period and later acquired a baroque chapel. The interior contains beautiful Gothic star vaults, and the Romanesque doorway in the main western entrance is magnificent.
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Citadel Park
The large Citadel Park is laid out on what was once a massive Prussian fortress known as the Citadel (Cytadela). It was involved in one major battle, when the Germans defended themselves for four weeks in 1945, and was completely destroyed apart from a few fragments. Today the park incorporates two museums: the Museum of Weapons and the Museum of the Poznań Army. There are also cemeteries for Polish, Soviet, British and Commonwealth soldiers, all on the southern slopes of the hill.
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Dominican Church
The oldest surviving monument on the west side of the river is the former Dominican Church, now belonging to the Jesuits. Built in the mid-13th century, it was repeatedly reshaped and redecorated in later periods, but the fine early-Gothic doorway at the main entrance is still in place.
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Ethnographic Museum
The Ethnographic Museum has a good collection of folk woodcarving - of note are the large roadside posts and crosses - and traditional costumes of the region. It is a five-minute walk east from the Parish Church.
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Fish Sellers' Houses
The Fish Sellers' Houses, on the south east side of the Stary Rynek, is an endearing row of small arcaded buildings. They were built in the 16th century on the site of fish stalls and later reconstructed after major WWII damage.
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Franciscan Church
Just south of Poznań's castle is the richly-decorated baroque Franciscan Church. Its Chapel of the Virgin Mary (Kaplica NMP), in the left transept, has a carved oak altar and a tiny, reputedly miraculous image of St Mary.
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Górka Palace
The 16th-century Górka Palace sits in the southeastern corner of the Stary Rynek and now houses the Archaeological Museum.
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Historical Museum of Poznań
The Historical Museum of Poznań is inside the town hall on the Old Market Square. There's an interesting and well-presented exhibition on the town's history, despite the lack of English text, and the building's original interiors are worth the entry price on their own.
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Malta Park Railway
South of the church is the terminus of the Malta Park Railway, which runs miniature trains along the shoreline of the 70-hectare artificial Lake Malta (Jezioro Maltańskie; M06A5), a favourite summer spot for families, picnickers and boating enthusiasts. During the Malta International Theatre Festival in June, the lake's banks are used for outdoor theatre productions and other events, creating a lively atmosphere.
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Monument to the Poznań Army
The Monument to the Poznań Army is stark, modern monument dedicated to the local armed force that resisted the German invasion of 1939 for almost two weeks. It's just opposite the sloping Cemetery of the Meritorious (Cmentarz Zasłużonych; M015F), the oldest existing graveyard in the city (1810).
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Monument to the Victims of June 1956
The Monument to the Victims of June 1956 is one of Poznań's most significant memorials. It commemorates the ill-fated workers' protest. The monument, consisting of two 20m-tall crosses bound together, was unveiled on 28 June 1981, the 25th anniversary of the strike, at a ceremony attended by more than 100,000 people. It's a huge, evocative landmark, similar to the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers in Gdańsk.
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Museum of Applied Arts
Between Plac Wolności and the Rynek stands Poznań's castle, though the residence you see today is the postwar reconstruction of a late-18th-century building, which hardly looks like a castle at all. It now houses the Museum of Applied Arts . The collection includes furniture, gold and silverware, glass, ceramics, weapons, clocks, watches and sundials from Europe and the Far East. Exhibits date from the 13th century to the present.
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Museum of Musical Instruments
The Museum of Musical Instruments houses hundreds of instruments, from whistles to concert pianos, but it's less interesting than it should be. One room on the ground floor is filled with intriguing musical devices including a typewriter for musician notation, and a polyphon, the precursor of the record player. Upstairs, however, it's like an antiques clearance sale - rooms of pianos, rooms of violins, and so on, with little creative attempt to give them a context.
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Museum of Poznań June 1956
The Museum of Poznań June 1956, next door to the Monument to the Victims of June 1956, is housed within the neo-Romanesque Kaiserhaus ( M0158), which was built from 1904 to 1910 for Emperor Wilhelm II.
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Museum of the Poznań Army
This museum houses weapons, armour and ornaments from throughout the history of the Poznań army, including planes, tanks military hardware, rocket launchers and trucks.
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Museum of the Wielkopolska Uprising
The Museum of the Wielkopolska Uprising , housed in the old Guardhouse, details the battles waged by Polish fighters seeking independence from Germany after the end of WWI. It's an interesting if compact institution with displays of military uniforms, weaponry, photographs and documents created for the newborn Polish state that the Uprising hoped to help create. There's a brochure in English.
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National Museum
The building's architecture isn't much to look at, but the art - an extensive collection of Polish and European art is displayed in countless rooms - is displayed to best advantage in the spacious and light-filled interior and, unusually for Polish museums, it has disabled access throughout.
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New Zoo
This sprawling institution covers 116 hectares at the east end of the lake, and houses diverse species including Baltic grey seals, in a leafy pine forest environment.
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Old Market Square
The heart of the city, the Old Market Square was laid out in 1253 and contains a vibrant mix of sights, restaurants and entertainment outlets.
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Palm House
Constructed in 1910, this is one of the biggest greenhouses in Europe. Inside, 19,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants are housed, including the continent's largest cactus collection and its tallest bamboo trees. The adjacent aquarium is home to exotic fish. Curiously, there's a surviving wartime air-raid shelter within the grounds, which you can pay around zl2 to inspect.
