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On 11th November parade happens on Święty Marcin street. Various colorful acts including legionnary Martin on a horse, Bamberg girl and personified goose march from St. Martin church to Imperial Castle where various concerts happen. Event concludes with passing keys to the city to Martin and a fireworks display. Expect huge crowds.
Old Market Square
The old town square, one of the finest in Europe. This is the centre of old, medieval Poznań, and has been superbly rebuilt after severe destruction in World War II. Cafés and bars line the square and it is a superb spot for ordering a drink and watching the world go by.
The Town Hall is the centrepiece of the Rynek. It was built in the Gothic style in the first years of the 14th century. It was later rebuilt in Renaissance style by Giovanni Battista di Quadro from Lugano. It is said to be the most beautiful non-church renaissance building north of the Alps. The building houses the Historical Museum of Poznań (built as the headquarters of municipal powers and the city court), displaying exhibitions about the history of the city since the 10th century. Two things to watch out for here are the ornately decorated Great Entrance Hall and the mechanical goats which appear from the roof of the building each day at noon to butt their heads together a dozen times.
Fara Poznańska
This church was reopened in 2007 after total refurbishment, one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Poland. It was built as a Jesuits' church; it is now the parish church for the Old Town. Many tourist come here for the sounds of its organs, built here in the 1870s by one of the most famous organ masters of that time: Friedrich Ladegast from Wesenfels (Germany). The organs can be heard during services (regular on Sundays and on weekdays: 03:00 or 04:00 and 13:00) and during organ concerts (each Thursday, 19:30, free entrance).
It was an old Jesuits' school build by the monk in the same period, as the neighboring church, now houses the City Office - so it's possible to get in to see the interiors, but only halls and corridors. In the early 19th century it was the quarters for emperor Napoleon I during his march toward Moscow. Few years later - the concert place for Frédéric Chopin (his original instrument is still exhibited in Poznań in the Museum of Musical Instruments - see below). In front of the City Office is the monument of two goats - the symbol of the city.
The King's Castle (Zamek Królewski) - rebuilt by King Przemysł II in 1290s, but erected by his father, Duke Przemysł I as a duke's residence for Poznań county. The only remnants of the original building are the foundations, and - what tourists mostly look is the newer part of the building dated from the second half of 18th century. Now it houses the Museum of Applied Art and from the walls you can watch the panorama of the Old Town. Poznań King's Castle was the place of the First Prussian Homage in 1492 (however more famous is the second one presented on famous picture painted by Jan Matejko). The hill was also the place, where the arms of Polish first dynasty (Piasts) - the White Eagle - became the official national symbol.
Kościół św. Antoniego Padewskiego
It is a rather typical church from the turn of 17th and 18th centuries, but is really worth coming here at least for a few minutes for its beautiful paintings on the vaulting and wood carvings created by two ingenious monk - brothers Adam and Antony Swach from the Czech territories. More religious visitors come here for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Incessant Help - the Lady of Poznań (the picture in left side-aisle). The undergrounds of the church house Models of Old Poznan.