Hotel Bazar in an illustration made after its opening in 1841

Hotel Bazar

Paderewski in Poznań	The hotel, which was modern for its time and was simultaneously the center of Poles' economic and social life in Poznań, opened its doors in 1841. This was during the period of the partitions when this area of Poland was under Prussian occupation. The hotel was the site of patriotic ceremonies, speeches, concerts and balls. During the 1948 Spring of Nations it served as the headquarters of the National Committee during an attempted uprising. Later, in December 1918, it was the location at which the Greater Poland (Wielkopolskie) uprising began. Though the armistice ending WWI had been signed on November 11 of that year, the Germans remain in control of Poznań and the Wielkopolska region.	Hotel Bazar in a 1918 photo
On December 26 of that year, Paderewski. the famed pianist and great statesman who had influenced Woodrow Wilson in the formulation of his 13 points, made Poznań the first stop of his reentry, after many years, into Poland. From a window of the Hotel Bazar he spoke to a huge patriotic throng which gathered to welcome him. The following day, while preparations were underway for a banquet honoring Paderewski, shots fired at the Hotel from a German counter-demonstration. The fire was returned and the incident proved the spark that ignited a popular uprising against the German authorities and, over the following two months, led to the territory of Wielkopolska becoming part of the renascent Polish state. In this, the uprising was unique, for it was the only one of the many the Polish freedom fighters attempted during the 123 year long period of partitions that achieved its goal.

Freedom fighters in front of the Bazar Hotel Poznań National Museum: Leon Wróblewski

Monument to the patriots of the 1918 Wielkopolska Uprising at Królowa Jadwiga and Wierzbiecice streets

During the siege of Poznan in 1945 the hotel, like much of the center of Poznan, was gutted. It was rebuilt, as seen in the 1985 photo and the contemporary side view of the Bazar building. No longer a hotel it houses offices, though plans are being made to return it to its historic function.

Hotel Bazar in a 1945 photo	Hotel Bazar in a 1985 photo
Contemporary photograph

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