Red Tales: Polish Delight
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Visit our adblocking instructions page. Home News Sport Business. Telegraph Travel Destinations Europe Articles. This ,square-metre giant is big — the biggest square in the EU, in fact. It is also, if we are being kind, rather drab — and if we are being rude, something of an eyesore, often deployed as a car park. Its grand cocktail of red brick and coxcomb tower is a spectacle every camera should admire. It is also one of the oldest edifices in the Polish capital. It was founded in — but it was almost entirely destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising of August-October , when Nazi Germany eviscerated a city which had the temerity to fight back.
The church was badly damaged in the clampdown — and 90 per cent of it was deliberately demolished by the occupiers in the immediate aftermath. It was resurrected from a 17th century illustration, and now looks as it did in the 14th century — rather than the 20th. That would be Masurian Lakeland, which ebbs across miles and 20, square miles in the north-east of the country. There are more than lakes in all, including Sniardwy — the largest in the country It is a joy in summer, when you can hike on its banks.
Germany and Poland are pretty good friends these days. One example of their warm relationship is the Lower Oder Valley International Park nationalpark-unteres-odertal. Specifically, it unspools as a ribbon of wetland in north-east Germany the state of Brandenburg and north-west Poland the province of West Pomerania , flanking the Oder known as the Odra in Poland as it starts its approach to the Baltic Sea.
This is another haven for summer strolls. And for birdlife — like the rare in Europe black stork.
A short-ish hop further north, the Oder pours its soul into the Szczecin Lagoon — which is another Polish-German co-production. This vast inland water feature — which is separated from the Baltic by the islands of Usedom also shared between the two neighbours and Wolin completely and utterly Polish — boasts a set of glorious beaches. Like those found on the Polish island of Karsibor.
Polish fairy tales
Because it has lots of it. In Poland, the eagle appeared as a coat of arms for the first time on seals of several Dukes of the Piast dynasty they were portrayed both standing and on horseback in the years It was their personal and family coat of arms and at the same time the emblem of their dukedoms. The eagle was selected as their coat of arms for its symbolic values. As the king of all birds it was a primeval symbol of power, victory, force and kingship.
For the same reason, many monarchs in other countries, used the eagle in their coats of arms. The eagle of the Piast princes had different colors than the others. From the very beginning it was the White Eagle in the red shield on "gules", according to heraldic terminology.
In the beginning, the eagle of Piasts had no crown. It was as late as when trends to unify Polish lands and to restore the Kingdom of Poland disrupted as early as in the second half of the 11th century emerged - when the Eagle's head was crowned. All Polish kings that followed accepted it in that character.
Beginning from the times of Wladyslaw Jagiello, that is from the end of 14th century, the Polish White Eagle was accompanied by "Pogon" a knight on a horse with the raised sword in his hand , the coat of arms of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was a sign of the union of the two States under the rule of the same King. The shape of the White Eagle changed following consecutive artistic styles in different times. The gothic Eagle of the Piasts and the Jagellons was followed in 16th century by a Renaissance one, then by a decorative baroque one, and finally by a harmonious and yet deprived of power of expression, classicistic 18th century one.
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Beginning from 16th century, the connection between the Eagle and the King was expressed by his monogram on the Eagle's breast, later by his family coat of arms. Despite the changing artistic form of the White Eagle, its ideological message was always the same. It was a symbol of the sovereign and independent Polish State, and of the King who personified all his subjects. As a symbol of the State and the King, it was present on royal seals and documents, on coins, army banners, on royal tombstones and residences, on State office buildings and more important churches; it was used during State and Court ceremonies.
In , in the consequence of the partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria, and in the consequence of the breakdown of the State, the White Eagle lost its significance as the coat of arms an was replaced by the emblems of the foreign monarchies. It became at that time the main visual symbol of the struggle for national independence. The left-oriented liberation movement took for their emblem the "democratic" White Eagle without the crown.
Apart from the official designs, several stylistic forms of the White Eagle were in use at that time. After the defeat in and during the German and Soviet occupation of the country the White Eagle, as Poland's coat of arms, was strictly forbidden.
Once again it became the symbol of fight for free Poland. It was used by the underground army at home and by the regular Polish army abroad.
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The left-oriented armed forces, however, as well as the Polish army created in the Soviet Union, adopted the White Eagle without the crown. And such became the official Coat of Arms of Poland after Removing the crown from above the Eagle's head meant a change of the State's political system, from now on based on the principle of "people's democracy. And thus, when in consequence of the events of the s, the political system in Poland was changed, it was possible again to restore the crowned White Eagle.
In its official design was defined, closely relating to that of In traditional emblems of the Polish Army were restored, among which was the Crowned White Eagle. In , the th anniversary of the White Eagle's coronation as the Coat of Arms of the Polish State was celebrated. Many old tales claim that the bravest of the knights never died, but have been asleep for centuries in a cavern beneath Mount Pisana. Once, in a mountain village, a stranger entered a blacksmith shop.
He told the blacksmith that he could earn a rich reward for doing a special job, but he must promise not to tell anyone. The stranger took a gold bar from under his coat and asked the blacksmith to make a horseshoe from it. When this was done, the stranger led him to the Koscieliska Valley.
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After hours of walking, they came to a cave hidden by rocks and trees. There was a bright golden light inside the cave. On the floor was an army of knights in full armor, resting their helmeted heads on saddles as if they were pillows. In their hands were battle axes and spears.
Along the walls of the cave stood beautiful sleeping horses covered with blankets made of delicate fabric and horseshoes made of gold. The stranger told the amazed blacksmith to replace the broken shoe of a great stallion with the golden horseshoe he had made. The horse did not get up even when the blacksmith nailed the horseshoe to the stallion's hoof. Of course, the curious blacksmith asked many questions, but this was all the stranger would tell him: On that day, thunder would shake the earth and the sky, giant pine trees would break like little sticks, and boulders would crash down the mountainsides.
The knights would then gallop out of the cave to fight for Poland once more. When the job was done, the stranger led the blacksmith back to his village and made him swear never to tell a living soul about what he had seen. Then, the stranger paid the blacksmith with a bag of gold and vanished. The foolish blacksmith could not keep from telling anyone about what he saw. First, he told his wife and then his neighbors. Soon everyone knew his secret. However, the moment the blacksmith broke his word, his bag of gold turned to sand and although he searched for the cave many times, he was never able to find it.
In the forest, he saw a wild beast and was determined to kill it.
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He was close enough to shoot at it the arrow from his bow, but as he took his aim, the beast suddenly disappeared. Thoroughly surprised, the prince decided to stop at the nearby river for a drink of water.
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As he bent over to drink, he saw the mermaid. The mermaid told the Prince to follow the arrow she shot from her bow. The prince followed the arrow along the river's edge until he reached a clearing. He went to the cottage to ask for food.