Do you know which town has the second-longest town green after Kraków? Here’s a surprise: it is Rawicz in the Wielkopolska Province. The Rawicz town green stretches for 2,700 metres and is just one of several features of this carefully planned town.
Admittedly, Rawicz is somewhat younger than Kraków: it was founded in 1638 as a private town by the nobleman Adam Olbracht Przyjemski. The town lay very close to the Silesian border, which made it particularly vulnerable during times of war. For this reason, it was soon surrounded by ramparts with gates and a deep moat. Today, the town green occupies their former location. Built practically from scratch, the town was carefully planned: all its streets form a regular grid and intersect at right angles. On a much larger scale, a similar solution can be seen in cities such as New York.
Among the most interesting monuments is the 18th-century Town Hall, whose tower was fitted with Poland’s first lightning rod in 1783, just three decades after Benjamin Franklin’s famous experiments. Today, the Town Hall houses the Rawicz Land Museum, which is well worth a visit. Nearby stands the Neo-Gothic Church of Christ the King and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – a building said to be more Gothic than the Gothic itself.