Must see in Poznań: St. Martin Street

Saint Martin street is one of the Old Town streets in Poznań. There are many venues worth seeing, such as the Imperial Castle, St. Martin's Church and the "June 1956" monument.

St. Martin street, Poznań / Łukasz Cynalewski / Agencja Gazeta

St. Martin Street

St. Martin Street owes its name to a 13th-century settlement, mentioned already in 1252, whose centre was the church dedicated to St. Martin. Until the end of the 18th century it was a separate town near Poznan and since 1792 it has functioned as its suburb. It was recognized as the town's main street in 18th century and thus adopted the name of the whole suburb. It lead all the way from the Berlin Gate (the intersection of St. Martin Street and Kościuszki Street at present), demolished in 1901 by the Prussian authorities which was then used to erect the castle district. At the end of the 19th century it became the very first street in Poznan to be asphalted.

Nowadays the street begins at Kaponiera Roundabout (Rondo Kaponiera) in the west, and ends at 1848 Spring of the Nations Square (Plac Wiosny Ludów). Between 1945 and 1989 it carried the name  Red Army Avenue. It has little communications importance, however it serves as a significant trade and services area.

A lot of institutions are located there, among which one can find the University of Adam Mickiewicz, Music Academy (previously Lutheran Seat of Associations) which is opposite the university building and consists of two wings, the first one primal, built while the castle area was being erected, and the second one contemporary, built in the 1990s, alluding with its architecture to its neighbour, Philharmonic Concert Hall, Emperor's Castle, two cinemas (Zamkowe and Muza), libraries and several banks. Along St. Martin's Street there are also preserved a number of Art Deco and Neo-Romanesque tenement houses where today some hotels and some libraries are located, for instance Haase and Wagner's tenement no. 69 designed by Oskar Hoffmann, built at the beginning of 20th century, originally the seat of Posener Neueste Nachrichten daily, and next to it the Association of People's Reading Rooms. Beside this there is a 7-storey hotel building, tenement no. 67 (today NH Reichshof, before World War II - Continental). On the opposite side of the street, no. 74 there is another pre-war building, Hotel Lech. Unfortunately, it was redesigned in 1970s which destroyed its layout completely.

On  St. Martin Street one can also find several monument, e.g. Adam Mickiewicz, university's patron. The most famous one, though, is the Monument of Poznan's June 1956.