Gniezno Cathedral is better known as the Cathedral
Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Adalbert (Bazylika
Archikatedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny i św.
Wojciecha in Polish). It lies at the very centre of the city of Gniezno, in the
Wielkopolska Voivodeship (Greater Poland Province). One of the Piasts' chief
cities, it was the first capital of Poland in the tenth century when Boleslaw the
Brave forged a united state.
The city's Roman Catholic Archbishop of Gniezno is the primate
of Poland, putting the city on a par with Canterbury in England. The cathedral in
its earliest form was built in the ninth century. Destroyed by Duke Bretislav I of
Bohemia, it was rebuilt in the Gothic style by Boleslaw II of Poland, who was
crowned here in 1076. Outside the cathedral, the statue of Boleslaw the Brave
stands right in front of the building whilst inside is a silver relic coffin of
St Wojciech.
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