1. KALISZ-SZCZYPIORNO. EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS CHURCH

It is a parish church created in the area which in the years of the First World War was part of a large German camp for war prisoners.
It was called "Prisoner-of-war camp No. 5 in Skalmierzyce" and from January 1915 to November 1918, Russians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Italians, Romanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and even Indians and other soldiers from colonial armies stayed there. In July 1917, slightly more than 3,000 legionnaires from the I and III Brigades of the Polish Legions were interned to the camp. They, at the instigation of Józef Piłsudski, had refused to take an oath of loyalty to the Emperor of Germany and serve in the "Polnische Wehrmacht". At the camp the internees organized school and specialist courses (matriculation, illiterate, agricultural, commercial and foreign language courses). They also organized art exhibitions, theatrical and cabaret performances, and cricket competition. They played there the first in Poland match of a handball, which for this reason is also known today as "szczypiorniak".

2. PUCHALSKI TENEMENT HOUSE AT JAN KILIŃSKI SQUARE

It was built in the classicist style in the years 1829-1831 according to the design of F. Reinstein, for the former Napoleonic officer Józef Grzegorz Puchalski. In the years 1849-1862, Maria Wasiłowska (Konopnicka) lived in this house in her maiden years. It is a three-storey building with a flat, hipped roof, a centrally located gateway, three richly decorated balconies and a cornice with a frieze furnished with a decoration with military motives, referring to its first owner.
Since the spring of 1918, there was a headquarter of the Polish Military Organization (PMO) – a secret organisation created by J. Piłsudski. In Kalisz it was founded in 1915 by Lieutenant J. Zdanowicz-Opieliński. It developed quickly and in the second half of 1916 it included – as the VIII PMO District with the commandant – Second Lieutenant. J. Łepkowski – the following counties: kaliski, kolski, koniński, sieradzki, słupecki and turecki. It gathered former legionnaires and the youth. It conducted military training and subversive- intelligence activities and cooperated with scout teams. On the evening of 10 November 1918, a secret council of the PMO and the Civic Guard was held in this building. During this meeting the Military Staff of the Kalisz Land was created. After regaining independence, many PMO members became part of the Polish regional regiment being formed in Kalisz. In the cells located in the courtyard of this building, firearms were hidden. On the morning of 11 November 1918 a group of scouts took the firearms and along with the delegates of the Military Staff of the Kalisz Land went to the headquarters of the German military district to take over power in the city and the Kalisz County.

3. COUNTY OFFICE

It is located in a building raised in the years 1586-1591 according to the design of J. M. Bernardoni for the Jesuits brought to Kalisz in 1583. In 1823-1824 it was
rebuilt – according to the design of F. Reinstein – for the needs of administrative authorities and it still has this function.
It is a classical, three-story building, raised on a horseshoe plan, with a facade facing the city park. In its central part there is a prominent, four-column
Corinthian portico with a balcony and a triangular pediment. During the First World War, since the middle of 1918, this building
housed the command of the German military district, headed by General von Sontag. On the morning of 11 November of the
same year, lieutenant J. Ulrych (accompanied by Second Lieutenant S. Bieniecki) came here – on behalf of the Military Staff of
the Kalisz Land – and demanded that the General hand him over the power in the city and county. He also demanded that German soldiers leave the building. They were disarmed by a
group of scouts armed with firearms. They also hung an amaranth banner with a white eagle on the balcony, and the people gathered in front of the building greeted it with the shouts: "Long live Poland!". This is how the first day of
independence began in Kalisz.

4. DISTRICT COURT BUILDING

The classical building of the former Tribunal (today's District Court) was raised by order of the tsarist authorities in the years 1819-1823 according to a design prepared by the province architect S.Szpilowski. Its eight-column portico is crowned with a triangular tympanum, under which there is a Latin sentence: "Suum Cuique" – "May all get their due". It housed the Civic Guard, which was established in the summer of 1918 as a secret organization which was meant to maintain public order during the anticipated disarming of German soldiers and taking over power from them in the city.

5. ORTHODOX PRIESTS' HOUSE IN NIECAŁA STREET

It was built at the end of the 19th century for the needs of the Orthodox parish. It is a two-storey building, with two corner avant-corps crowned with triangular
gables and a balcony located in the middle part. In the middle of November 1918, this building became a place of residence for volunteers from the Poznań Province (former Grand Duchy of Posen) who illegally crossed the border with the intention of serving in the Polish army.

6. FORMER JESUIT BULIDINGS IN KOLEGIALNA STREET

This is part of the former Jesuit buildings. In the years 1584-1773 they ran a college there. In 1797, the Prussians, who occupied Kalisz after the second partition of Poland in 1793, rebuilt the college into a military school – the Corps of Cadets. In the years 1806-1831 it was a Polish military school. Later, the tsarist army stationed here, and during the First World War – the German one. Since the middle of November 1918, soldiers from a district regiment which was being formed in Kalisz stayed here. On 12 December the regiment was named the 29th Infantry Regiment.

7. ST. JOSEPH SQUARE

The square was marked out in 1818 and was given the name of the New Market. In 1841, a monument to commemorate the meetings of the Prussian king with the Russian tsars was raised there, and the square was named Eugeniusz Square. It has had its current name since 1875. On this square, on 1 December 1918, Lieutenant J. Ulrych – the
commander of the Military Staff of the Kalisz Land (dissolved on 10 December of that year) and Second Lieutenant J. Łepkowski – commander of the 8th PMO District, said goodbye to some of the soldiers of the "Kalisz" regional regiment (later the 29th Infantry Regiment). They were going to the eastern front to fight in defense of Lviv. His commander was first Colonel J. Lewszecki, and then – since 12 December – Lieutenant Colonel K. Szemiot. On 13 December 1918 in the same place soldiers of the First Border Battalion made a military oath after a holy mass held in what was then a collegiate. Since the end of December 1918 they had been taking part in the Wielkopolskie Uprising.

8. FORMER BERNARDINE MONASTERY (TODAY THE JESUIT CHURCH)

The Bernardine Order was brought to Kalisz in 1465, and their former buildings, preserved until today, were built in 1607-1622. The Bernardine Order in Kalisz was dissolved by the tsarist authorities in 1864. In 1919 the buildings were taken over by Jesuits.
During the First World War, the monastery housed the headquarters of the German gendarmerie, and after Poland regained independence, there were – from the middle of November to the end of December 1918 – scouts from the Scouts Company and the Youth Emergency Department. A large group of them left on 1 December 1918 to do a garrison service in Warsaw.

9. RAILWAY STATION

The Warsaw-Kalisz railway was built for three years, and the first train departed from Kalisz on 15 November 1902. The railway station was built in 1905 according to the design of C. Domaniewski. In 1906, this railway was connected to the German rail network. On 27 May 1919 J. Piłsudski talked with General J. Dowbór-Muśnicki and General J. Haller at the station. As a result of these talks the Polish Army was established under the command of the future Marshal of Poland.

10. KALISZ-SZCZYPIORNO.TRAINING CENTRE OF PRISON SERVICE

The first training school preparing future prison officers was founded in Szczypiorno in 1950. In later years the school underwent several transformations related to the change of the curriculum, and since 1987 it has had its current name. The center is located in barracks raised for border guards at the end of the 19th century by the tsarist authorities. It includes buildings of a former customs chamber, whose head in the 1840s was W. Chmielowski, father of Saint Brother Albert. In the years of the First World War they were occupied by German soldiers who supervised the PMO camp located nearby. On 2 December 1918, Colonel J. Lewszecki, the commander of the Military District in Kalisz, came to them with a request to leave Szczypiorno immediately. His order was followed and from that time on the barracks were occupied by soldiers who formed the "Poznan battalion" in Kalisz. Later it received the name of the First Border Battalion. The official handover of the barracks by the German Soldier Council took place a bit later, but from that day onwards the barracks became the place of stationing the battalion which patrolled the border. During one of the patrols – on 27 December 27 1918 – Jan Mertka was killed at Boczków. He was the first Polish soldier who died in Wielkopolska just before the outbreak of the Wielkopolskie Uprising, in which soldiers of the Border Battalion fought on the
southern front.

11. KALISZ-SZCZYPIORNO. MEMORIAL ROOM

The memorial room is located at ulica Wroc-ławska 189 in a building of a former bathhouse built in 1905- 1907 in the barracks of the tsarist border guard. The opening ceremony took place on 13 November 2013. There is an exhibition dedicated to the internment of legionnaires in the prisoner-of-war camp, the First Border Battalion and a team handball commonly known as "szczypiorniak”.