Kadyny (German: Cadinen or Kadinen) is a village on the Vistula Lagoon (German: Frisches Haff, Polish: Zalew Wiślany) on the Baltic Sea. It has 500 inhabitants [1]. That sounds unspectacular and it is, because I didn't visit the entire village and the entrance to the lagoon, but on the edge I visited the Cadinen estate with a palace, stud farm and pastures as well as the Bażyński Oak.
The place was first mentioned in a document in 1255 as terra kadinensis. In 1354 it was called Kudien, which is derived from the Old Prussian "kudas" and means "meager, miserable". Old Prussian is one of the West Baltic languages, which I did not mention in the article on religion in the area [2], because that was about the East Baltic languages; Old Prussian is one of the West Baltic languages, all of which died out between the 14th and 18th centuries, with Old Prussian lasting the longest. It also did not appear in the blog post about languages in Poland, because we were dealing with the West Slavic languages and especially the Lechitic subgroup there [3]. So further research is worthwhile on this topic. There used to be a castle in Kudien, of which only the ruins of a monastery remain, which I was not able to visit. An old legend tells us, that the castle was named after Cadina, the daughter of a Prussian chieftain. Now a little history, because in 1415 the Baysen family came into possession of the place. Baysen is Polish Bażyński and the Bażyński Oak was named after Jan Bażyński. Now we'll skip a part of the local history.
In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II came into possession of the country estate and had it expanded into his summer residence, which was then called Cadinen Castle. He also placed the surrounding forests under protection. Kaiser Wilhelm II then ordered the establishment of a tile workshop. The Cadinen tiles were used, for example, in several subway stations in Berlin. There is Kadiner Straße in Berlin, which is located about 5 km east of the Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) near the Frankfurter Tor subway station.
"After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, in 1945, the area was turned over to the Republic of Poland under the Potsdam Agreement, and renamed to its historic Polish name Kadyny." [4] The stud farm survived the People's Republic of Poland and after 1989, the transition to the Third Polish Republic, the whole place was declared a protected monument. It is now a popular tourist destination.
I had looked at the stud farm with the meadows, the horses and the castle from the outside. A wedding party had just arrived who wanted to celebrate there in a dignified setting.
Finally, I looked at the Bażyński Oak [5], which is one of the oldest trees in Poland. The oak is now 748 years old, so there is a significant anniversary to celebrate in two years - we'll see if I remember this date. I doubt whether the size information in Wikipedia is still correct, as it is about 10 years old, but perhaps I shouldn't be too picky.
I would like to go to Kadyny again, because then I would like to see the monastery ruins, a little chapel, the lagoon there, the neo-Gothic protestant church and one or two other things that I could find. I strongly recommend visiting Kadyny.
Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadyny
[2] Religious Affiliation in the recently visited States of the Baltic Sea https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/09/religious-affiliation-in-recently.html
[3] Languages on my recent Journey through some States around the Baltic Sea - Part 1: Polish and other languages of Poland
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/09/languages-on-my-recent-journey-through.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadyny
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%C5%BCy%C5%84ski_Oak
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