Some wanted it to be destroyed, others regarded it as an architectural curiosity and a tourist attraction. The Imperial Castle in Poznan celebrates the hundredth anniversary of its construction. Built as the most far eastern residence of the German Emperor and King of Prussia, today it is a thriving cultural centre.

The castle was built in the years 1905-1910 by German Emperor Wilhelm II. In the interwar era, it became the seat of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan as well as a residence of the Polish presidents. During the Second World War, it was transformed into one of Adolf Hitler’s residences. For over a dozen years after the war, it also served as the seat of Poznan’s authorities. Today, the castle houses the ‘Zamek’ Culture Centre, one of the country’s greatest institutions involved in the promotion of culture.

A series of events have been organised to celebrate the castle’s anniversary.

“In August, we will offer three exhibitions: a presentation of key moments of the castle’s hundred-year-long history, accompanied by photographs from the period (Great Hall); an exhibition of photographs by Roman Stefan Ulatowski featuring no-longer-existing castle interiors (Imperial Hall); and an exhibition of mementoes (‘pf’ Photography Gallery),” said Joanna Przygońska, the ‘Zamek’ Culture Centre’s spokeswoman.

Apart from all that, guided tours will be available every Wednesday in the summer at 6pm.

The Birthday Sunday at the castle will take place on August the 22nd. At 11:15am the ‘On the opening of the castle in 1910’ meeting will start, while at midday, a guided tour will begin. Finally, the premiere of Grzegorz Grześkowiak’s Castle District film is scheduled for 1:30pm.

Birthday attractions will also include performances and concerts.

On August the 5th at 9pm, in the Rose Courtyard, the Compagnie Thor dancing group from Brussels, established by the choreographer Thierry Smith, will give a performance. The artists will perform their ‘To The Ones I Love’ show. The group’s members are nine dancers of African descent, who dance to Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions with white decorations.

On August the 17th at 9pm, a Ton Und Kirschen Theatre performance will start in the Rose Courtyard. This is an international group of dancers who travel all over the world to perform, mainly in squares and in the streets.

The series of birthday concerts will start on August the 4th at 7pm, in the Castle Courtyard. ‘Bajzel’, also known as Piotr Piasecki, will perform. Thanks to his mix of sampled percussion and guitar sounds, as well as his live vocals, he produces music that sounds as if it had been created by a whole band. His performances have already earned him quite a lot of fans throughout Poland and he has also been appreciated by some of the country’s other artists, such as Lao Che, Pogodno and Kasia Nosowska, with whom he has been on several concert tours.

On August the 11th at 7pm, Boogie Chilli will also perform in the Castle Courtyard. According to the readers of Your Blues magazine, this was the Best Band of the Year 2007, and the musicians are also active in the Hot Water and Wielka Łódź bands.

The ‘Zamek’ Culture Centre also invites you for a Snowmen concert that will be held on August the 18th. From the very beginning, the band’s music went along with image and their concerts were accompanied by visualizations. It is hard to explicitly define their style – it includes elements of post-rock, jazz and electronics, which all make up a warm melody and, at the same time, a somewhat trance-like song. The end of the celebrations will be marked with a concert by the Spanish Elbicho group that will take place on August the 20th in the Rose Courtyard, at 9pm. In their homeland, Elbicho are regarded as one of the most innovative bands playing flamenco-based music. Having disregarded the conventional manner of performing this kind of music, they chose to assume an unusual approach to flamenco, combining flamenco ‘duende’ with the psychedelic rock of the 1970s and surrealist lyrics. The result is astonishingly beautiful music. The seven-member band have already released 3 albums and played hundreds of concerts in Spain and other European countries and every time they step on stage, they win the hearts of a host of new, fervent fans.

After the concert, at around 10:30pm, a fireworks display will take place.