City in Poland, on the river Vistula;
population (1985) 716,000. It is an
industrial centre producing railway wagons,
paper, chemicals, and tobacco. It was capital
of Poland c. 1300-1595. Founded about 1400,
its university, at which the astronomer
Copernicus was a student, is one of the
oldest in central Europe. There is a
14th-century Gothic cathedral.