Understand
Kalisz, with its 110-thousand population, is the biggest city in south-eastern part of Greater Poland and second after Poznan in the whole region. It's - most probably - the oldest town in Poland, a geographer from Alexandria, Claudio Ptolemeo mentions the city in his "Introduction to Geography", written between 142-174 AC, locating Calisia in the south of nowadays Greater Poland. Archeological excavations, run after the Second World War confirmed, that there had been a settlement appr. 2000 years ago.
Kalisz got its municipal right from duke Boleslaus the Pious in appr. 1260. After the location it was developing rapidly, thanks to its location on the Amber Trail. During the Partition Time 1793-1918 for most of the time it was under russian control, and the border with the Prussia later-on : germany was just next to the city westwards - that's why we still have an enormous railway station in Nowe Skalmierzyce, where the border used to be. Present Kalisz is an important industrial centre, there're thw theatres in the city, one "own" university and several branches of higher schools from Poznan and numerous secondary schools.
