Kalisz

Kalisz holds Poland's oldest written address. Ptolemy's Geography of the second century marks "Calisia" on the amber road from the Baltic to Rome — giving Kalisz the proudest boast in Polish urbanism, the country's most anciently recorded town, trading amber to the Caesars before Poland existed. Its modern face is younger than it should be: in August 1914 the Prussian army shelled and burned the defenceless town in one of the war's first atrocities, and the rebuilt centre — a coherent early-twentieth-century composition around the town hall's tower — is itself a monument, the "oldest town" wearing the newest old town in Poland.

Between the Prosna's channels and parks, Kalisz kept its crafts: the city was a capital of Polish piano-making — the Calisia factory's instruments stood in schools across the country — and of lacework and aviation besides. The musical present is documented in the concert record: the Kalisz Philharmonic, the resident symphonic ensemble, and the concert hall of the state music school — the "PSM Concert Hall" of the record — where its seasons and the city's festivals, piano competitions naturally included, are played. Amber for Rome, pianos for Poland, a philharmonic for the Prosna: Kalisz has been on the map longer than the map.