Popularization of Physical Culture and Tourism in the Grand Duchy of Posen: A Case Study of the Tygodnik Poznański (Posen Weekly) Magazine

Abstract

Tygodnik Poznański (Posen Weekly) was a Polish-language magazine published in Posen (present-day Poznan) in 1862–1863. The magazine editors focused mostly on educational, historical and national issues, and did not publish texts exclusively devoted to the subject of physical culture. However, references to physical culture did appear in Tygodnik Poznański in various contexts, and they made the magazine unique among the nineteenth-century Polish-language press in the Grand Duchy of Posen. Tygodnik Poznański contributors explored the themes of physical strength, courage, dexterity, physical labour, relationships between physical and mental conditions, and even between the existence of states and physical development of their citizens. In addition, the magazine covered the subject of tourism in a series of articles in which the reporter made keen observations on his overseas trips. Although Tygodnik Poznański did not contribute directly to the propagation of physical activity among its readers, its contributors placed a particular emphasis on sightseeing and tourism. The magazine was one of the first periodicals to have a separate section devoted to tourism, and it made their Polish readers realize the values and virtues of the Polish lands which, although at that time under Prussian rule, remained a crucial part of Polish national identity.