The most important sights of the city include the Old Town with the medievalCastle of Warmian Cathedral Chapter andSt. James Co-cathedral, which dates back more than 600 years. The market square is part of theEuropean Route of Brick Gothic and the co-cathedral is regarded as one of the greatest monuments ofGothic architecture in Poland.[5] The city is also known for its association withNicolaus Copernicus, who lived there and commanded the successful Polish defense of the city during a 1521 Teutonic invasion, with the castle containing an astronomical table made by Copernicus. Today, the castle houses a museum and is a venue forconcerts, art exhibitions, film shows and other cultural events, which make Olsztyn a popular tourist destination.[6][7]
Olsztyn, for a number of years, has been ranked very highly inquality of life,income, employment and safety. It is one of the best places in Poland to live and work.[8][9] It is also one of thehappiest cities in the country.[9]
The city joined thePrussian Confederation in 1440,[14] and rebelled against the Teutonic Knights in 1454 upon the outbreak of theThirteen Years' War to join theKingdom of Poland under KingCasimir IV Jagiellon. In 1454, upon the request of the Confederation, King Casimir IV signed the act of incorporation of the region to Poland,[15] and the townspeople took the castle and recognized the Polish king as the rightful ruler.[13] Although the Teutonic Knights recaptured the city the following year, it was retaken by Polish troops in 1463.[16] TheSecond Peace of Thorn in 1466 confirmed Allenstein as part of the Kingdom of Poland.[17] Administratively it was located in thePrince-Bishopric of Warmia within the provinces ofRoyal Prussia andGreater Poland.
From 1516 to 1521,Nicolaus Copernicus lived in the town castle as an administrator and then in Mehlsack (Melzak, nowPieniężno). Copernicus was in charge of the Polish defences in theSiege of Allenstein during thePolish-Teutonic War of 1519–21.[18] He also started and managed the repopulation of the region, inviting a new wave of Polish settlers fromMazovia.[13] The town along with Warmia then entered what is considered the region's golden age,[16] when crafts and trade developed, thanks also to the city's location on the Warsaw-Königsbergtrade route.[13] During this period, the city was still visited several times by Copernicus, as well as leading figures of thePolish Renaissance, writers, royal secretaries and diplomats:Johannes Dantiscus, called the "father of Polish diplomacy", andMarcin Kromer, who was also a historian and music theorist. St. James' Pro-Cathedral, one of the most distinctive landmarks of the cityscape, was completed at that time.[17]
Prosperity was halted in the 1620s, when the town suffered a fire[17] and an epidemic.[16] In 1626, during theSwedish invasion, clerics fromFrauenburg (Frombork) took refuge in the town, which the Swedes did not reach.[16] The city was sacked bySwedish troops later, in 1655 and 1708, during the nextPolish-Swedish wars, and its population was nearly wiped out in 1710 by epidemics of thebubonic plague andcholera.
On February 3, 1807, theBattle of Allenstein took place. TheFrench Army clashed with the Imperial Russian army. On that day, Allenstein was visited byNapoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon gathered enormous forces in the city and planned to engage the Russians and Prussians in a decisive battle. The Russian army was stationed inJonkowo, but retreated after the French attack. Thanks to the victory at Allenstein, Napoleon's army was able to move north and a few days later the generalBattle of Eylau took place.[19]
The growth of the city started again after it became adistrict seat in 1818,[16] a significant influx of German settlers began and by 1825, the town was inhabited by 1,341 Germans and 1,266 Poles.[20] In the early 1830s the city suffered from a cholera epidemic and a hunger crisis, however afterwards it flourished again, when despite Germanisation policies it was administered by Polish mayor Jakub Rarkowski from 1836 to 1865.[16][21] Under Rarkowski the city was expanded and modernized,[16] and the mayor also hid Polish insurgents in the city during theJanuary Uprising.[21] The first German-language newspaper, theAllensteiner Zeitung, began publishing in 1841. Polish historianWojciech Kętrzyński was arrested in Jomendorf (the present-day district of Jaroty),[16] and imprisoned in the city's High Gate in 1863 for smuggling weapons for the Polish January Uprising in theRussian Partition of Poland.[22] The town hospital was founded in 1867.
Headline of the first issue ofGazeta Olsztyńska from 1886
In 1871, with theunification of Germany, Allenstein became part of theGerman Empire. Two years later, the city was connected by railway toThorn (Toruń). Despite Germanisation attempts the city remained an important Polish centre.[10] Its firstPolish language newspaper, theGazeta Olsztyńska, was founded in 1886.[17] Further Polish newspapers,Nowiny Warmińskie andWarmiak, were founded in 1890 and 1893, respectively.[23] Allenstein's infrastructure developed[24] rapidly: gas was installed in 1890, telephones in 1892, public water supply in 1898, and electricity in 1907. TheProvincial Mental Sanatorium Kortau was established in 1886 just south of Allenstein (today part of Olsztyn-Kortowo). In 1905, the city became the capital ofRegierungsbezirk Allenstein, a government administrative region in East Prussia. From 1818 to 1910, the city was administered within the East Prussian Allenstein District, after which it became anindependent city.
After the defeat of Germany in World War I, theEast Prussian plebiscite was held in 1920 to determine whether the populace of the region, including Allenstein, wished to remain in GermanEast Prussia or become part ofPoland, which had just regained independence. In order to advertise the plebiscite, special postage stamps were produced byoverprinting German stamps and sold on 3 April of that year. One kind of overprint readPLÉBISCITE / OLSZTYN / ALLENSTEIN, while the other readTRAITÉ / DE / VERSAILLES / ART. 94 et 95 inside an oval whose border gave the full name of the plebiscite commission. Each overprint was applied to 14 denominations ranging from 5Pfennigs to 3Marks. The Polish community faced discrimination, Polish rallies were dispersed, the participants were threatened and beaten.[16] In March, Polish activistBogumił Linka died in Allenstein, a few weeks after being attacked by the German militia in nearbySzczytno inMasuria.[26][27][28] He was buried in Allenstein, however, his grave was soon devastated by local German nationalists.[26][27][29] A monument to Linka was unveiled after Poland regained control of the city after World War II.[26][27] The presence of aRoyal Irish battalion ensured a relative peace in Allenstein.[30] The plebiscite, held on 11 July, produced 16,742 votes for Germany and 342 votes for Poland.[16]
Headquarters of various Polish organizations in the interbellum, now a research institute
In theinterwar period, numerous Polish organisations operated in the city, including thePolish Scouting and Guiding Association,Union of Poles in Germany, a People's Bank (Bank Ludowy),[10] local Poles organised a school, library, puppet theatre.[16] The Polish Consulate also operated. Apart fromGazeta Olsztyńska, new Polish newspapers were issued in the city, i.e. the youth magazineŻycie Młodzieży. Dwutygodnik młodzieży polskiej w Niemczech from 1924, and theMazurski Przyjaciel Ludu andMazur newspapers dedicated to the nearby region of Masuria in 1923–1928 and 1928–1939, respectively.[23] As a result of pro-Polish publications, theMazur newspaper was suspended twice in 1933, its editors were twice fined by German courts, and the German administration threatened to close it down on several occasions.[31] After the January 1933Naziseizure of power in Germany, Poles andJews in Allenstein were increasingly persecuted.[16] In 1935, the GermanWehrmacht made the city the seat of the AllensteinMilitärischer Bereich. It was then home of the 11th and 217th infantry divisions and 11th Artillery Regiment. At the same time, the football clubSV Hindenburg Allenstein played in Allenstein from 1921 to 1945.
Beginning in 1936, members of the Polish minority were increasingly persecuted, especially members of theUnion of Poles in Germany.[16] In early 1939, many local Polish activists were expelled.[32] In an attempt to rig the results of an upcoming census and understate the number of Poles in the city and region, the Germans terrorized the Polish population and, in May 1939, theGestapo confiscated 10,000 Polish information leaflets in the headquarters of theGazeta Olsztyńska.[33] In August 1939, Germany introducedmartial law in the region, which allowed for even more blatant persecution of Poles.[34] In August and September 1939, the authorities carried out mass arrests of local Poles, including the chairman of the local Polish bank and his assistant, the chief of the "Rolnik" Cooperative,[35] and the principal of the local Polish school.[36]
Nazi Germany co-formed theEinsatzgruppe V in the city, which then entered several Polish cities and towns, includingGrudziądz,Mława,Ciechanów,Łomża andSiedlce, to commit variousatrocities against Poles during the Germaninvasion of Poland that beganWorld War II in 1939.[37] German troops invaded Poland also from Olsztyn (then called Allenstein).[38] After the German invasion of Poland, local Poles were also subjected to mass executions[10] and deportations tooccupied Poland. Arrested Poles were held in a local prison and then forced to remove Polish signs and inscriptions in the city, while the German population gathered and insulted them.[39] TheGazeta Olsztyńska andMazur were abolished by the German authorities, the newspaper's headquarters was demolished and theeditor-in-chief Seweryn Pieniężny was arrested and executed in theHohenbruch concentration camp [de][16][38] along with co-publisher Wojciech Gałęziewski and the "Rolnik" Cooperative chief Leon Włodarczyk, while Pieniężny's wife was deported to theRavensbrück concentration camp.[40] The last pre-war Polishconsul in Allenstein, Bohdan Jałowiecki, along with the consulate staff, was imprisoned in the Hohenbruch andSoldau concentration camps,[41] and then murdered.[42] Polish teachers were deported to theDachau concentration camp.[40]
During the war fiveforced labour camps were established in the city.[10] On 12 October 1939, the Wehrmacht established an area headquarters for one of its military districts,Wehrkreis I (headquartered at Königsberg), that controlled the environs of Allenstein, includingLötzen (now Giżycko), andCiechanów in occupied Poland. As part of theAktion T4,Nazi Germany conductedmedical experiments on the patients of the psychiatric hospital in the present-day district ofKortowo, in which at least 5,000 people were killed.[43]
On 22 January 1945, near the end of the war, the city was plundered and burned by the conqueringSovietRed Army, and much of its German populationfled.[44] The remaining, mostly Polish population, was subjected to various crimes, including murder, rape and looting.[38][16] The Soviets also murdered the remaining patients and staff of the psychiatric hospital, who were either burned alive or shot.[43] Remains of threeRoman Catholic nuns who served as nurses at Olsztyn's St. Mary's Hospital and were killed by Soviet soldiers in 1945 were excavated in October 2020.[45][46]
On 23 May 1945, the Soviets established a Polish administration in the region which aroused British and American protest.[47] The Polish rule was accepted under the preliminary provisions of thePotsdam Conference. In October 1945, theremaining German population was expelled in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement, and remaining Poles were joined by new Polish settlers,[48] mostly those expelled from pre-war Polish regions ofVilnius,Grodno andVolhynia, annexed by the Soviet Union, as well as settlers fromWarsaw, which had beendestroyed by German forces during World War II.[16] Reconstruction and removal of damage lasted until the 1950s.
In December 1945, amatch factory was launched in Olsztyn, as the city's first post-war industrial plant of national importance.[49] A tyre factory was founded in Olsztyn in 1967. Its subsequent names included OZOS, Stomil andMichelin.[50] City limits were greatly expanded in 1966 and 1987.[38]
In 1956, Olsztyn was the site of the largest Polish demonstration of support for theHungarian Revolution of 1956.[51] On the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, in 1973, aplanetarium was opened in Olsztyn.[17] In 1989 the formerGazeta Olsztyńska headquarters was rebuilt and re-opened as a museum. In 1991Pope John Paul II visited the city.[17] In 1999 theUniversity of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn was established, which is now one of the largest universities in northeastern Poland.
TheOlsztyn Castle was built between 1346–1353 and by then it had one wing on the north-east side of the rectangular courtyard. Access to the castle leads from the drawbridge over the river Łyna, surrounded by a belt of defensive walls and a moat. The south-west wing of the castle was built in the 15th century, the tower situated in the west corner of the courtyard, from the middle of the 14th century, was rebuilt in the early 16th century and had a round shape on a square base and was 40 meters high. At the same time, the castle walls were raised to a height of 12 meters and a second belt of the lower walls was built. The castle walls were partly combined with city walls, which made the castle look as if it had been a powerful bastion defending access to the city.The castle was owned by Warmia Chapter, which until 1454, together with thePrince-Bishopric of Warmia, was under the military protection of theTeutonic Knights and theirMonastic State in Prussia.[52]
The castle had played a huge role in the Polish-Teutonic wars by then. After theBattle of Grunwald in 1410, the Poles took it after a few days siege. In theThirteen Years' War (1454–66) it was jumping from rule to rule. The Knights threatened the castle and the town in 1521, but the defense was very effective. They contained one failed assault. There is a connection between the history of the castle, the city of Olsztyn, andNicolaus Copernicus. He prepared the defense of Olsztyn against the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in 1520.[52]
Interior of the Olsztyn Castle
In the sixteenth century, there were two prince-bishops of Warmia that stayed there:Johannes Dantiscus – the firstSarmatian poet, endowed with the imperial laurel wreath for "Latin Songs" (1538, 1541) andMarcin Kromer, who wrote with equal ease in Latin and Polish scientific and literary works (1580). Kromer consecrated the chapel of St. Anna, which was built in the south-west wing of the castle. In the course of time, both wings of the castle lost military importance, which for residential purposes has become very convenient. In 1779, Prince-BishopIgnacy Krasicki stopped here as well.
After thePrussian annexation of Warmia during theFirst Partition of Poland in 1772, the castle became the property of the state board of estates (Kriegs- und Domänenkammer – War and Domain Chamber). In 1845, the bridge over the moat was replaced by a causeway better connecting the castle with the city. In 1901–1911 a general renovation of the castle was performed, however, several sections of the building were violated at the same time where they changed the original look of the castle e.g. putting on window frames in a cloister. The tower was topped off in 1921 and again in 1926.
In 1945, the whole castle became home to the Masurian Museum, which today is called the Museum ofWarmia andMasuria. In addition, there are also popular events held within the frameworks of the Olsztyn Artistic Summer and so-called "evenings of the castle" and "Sundays in the Museum".
AlthoughJews were permitted to trade in the city itself and its fairs during themedieval times, they were restricted from trading freely in the villages surrounding the town.[53] In 1718, BishopTeodor Andrzej Potocki imposed a ban on Jewish trade in the city as well.[54] The ban, even if continued by successive bishops, proved not to be particularly successful in the light of repeated complains by the local merchants about Jewish dealing in animal leather and similar products as the one recorded in 1742. Permanent Jewish settlement can be dated to 1780 when the Jews were finally permitted to settle in the city albeit outside the immediate city walls.[55] In 1814, the Simonson brothers opened the first Jewish store. Yet the growth of the Jewish community worried city authorities, who tried to curb it with restrictions and punitive measures. In 1850, a new law imposed fines and imprisonment on anyone who harboured a "wandering" Jew in their home.[56]
The roots of the Jewish congregation in the town can be traced to 1820. Shortly after that date, an official prayer room was established on Richterstraße. In 1877, the congregation bought a plot of land on Liebstädterstraße and built a synagogue there.[57] A Jewish cemetery was built on Seestraße (present-day Grunwaldzka). At its peak, the town's Jewish population reached 448 people (1933).
During theKristallnacht, the town synagogue was destroyed by Nazi Germans, only to be later used as a bomb shelter.[58] Today, the site of the former synagogue is occupied by a local sports club.[59]
By 1939, only 135 Jews were left in the city. The remainder fled the country. Those who still lived in the town by 1940 were deported toNazi concentration camps.[60] In June 1946, 16Holocaust survivors settled in the city and in 1948, the congregation had 190 worshipers. Most of them emigrated toIsrael throughout the next few decades. There is no trace of the Jewish cemetery.[61]
The city was the birthplace of world-famous Jewish architectErich Mendelsohn. In town, Mendelsohn planned the mourners' chapel (called theMendelsohn house) next to the cemetery.[62] The building is restored.[63] In addition, it was the birthplace of GermanSocialist andSPD leaderHugo Haase.Frieda Strohmberg [pl], anImpressionist, lived and worked in the city from 1910 to 1927. Documentation of the Jewish owned shops in town exists.[64]
More than half of the forests occupying 21.2% of the city area form a single complex of the Municipal Forest (1050 ha) used mainly for recreation and tourism purposes. Within the Municipal Forest area are situated two peat-land flora sanctuaries,Mszar andRedykajny. Municipal greenery (560 ha, 6.5% of the town area) developed in the form of numerous parks, green spots and three cemeteries over a century old. The greenery includes 910 monuments of nature and groups of protected trees in the form ofbeech,oak,maple andlime-lined avenues.[citation needed]
The city is situated in a lake region of forests and plains. There are 15 lakes inside the administrative bounds of the city (13 with areas greater than 1ha). The overall area of lakes in Olsztyn is about 725 ha, which constitutes 8.25% of the total city area.[66]
TheMichelin Polskatyre company (former Stomil Olsztyn) is the largest employer in the region of Warmia and Masuria.[80] Other importantindustries arefood processing and furniture manufacturing.
In 1939, due to poor economic situation throughout theinterwar period and the city's growing population, atrolleybus line began operation, partially replacing the original tram network. During theSecond World War the cars were mainly driven by women.[citation needed]
The trolleybus network consisting of 4 lines was decommissioned on 31 July 1971.[82]
Historically, the city's first tram line was built in 1907 and gradually expanded over the years. It ceased operation in 1965.[85]
In 2006, authorities considered the reintroduction of trams in the city to address transport problems and subsequently concluded feasibility studies on the matter in 2009.[86] An 11-kilometre (7-mile) longtram network was built between 2011 and 2015. The contract was signed in 2011 and construction commenced in 2012.[85] It was a first new tram system built inPoland in 55 years; 15 low-floorTramino trams were ordered fromSolaris in September 2012.[87]There are five tram lines in operation.[88]
In 2024, a 6 kilometres (4 miles) long extension was completed the Turkish manufacturerDurmazlar had been selected to supply 24 trams for the network.[89][90]
The region and city is served byOlsztyn-Mazury Airport with scheduled international passenger flights. It is located inSzymany, 10 km (6 mi) offSzczytno and 58 km (36 mi) south of the city of Olsztyn. The airport operates flights toLondon,Dortmund,Kraków and seasonal flights toRzeszów andWrocław.[91]
Stomil Olsztyn – men'sfootball team, playing in the lower divisions. It played in theEkstraklasa, the country's top flight, from 1994 to 2002.
Warmia Olsztyn [pl] – men'shandball team playing in the I liga (second tier). It played in theSuperliga, the country's top flight, most recently from 2005 to 2012.
Warmia Olsztyn [pl] – one of the oldest football clubs in the city, playing in the lower leagues. It played on the second tier, most recently in the 1990s
Olsztyn belongs to the Federation of Copernicus Cities, an association of cities whereCopernicus lived and worked, such asBologna,Frombork,Kraków, andToruń. The main office of the federation is situated at Olsztyn Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory, located on St. Andrew's Hill (143 m) in a formerwater tower erected in 1897.
^"Główny Urząd Statystyczny" [Central Statistical Office] (in Polish). To search: Select "Miejscowości (SIMC)" tab, select "fragment (min. 3 znaki)" (minimum 3 characters), enter town name in the field below, click "WYSZUKAJ" (Search).
^Chłosta, Jan (1976). "Czasopismo "Mazur" z lat 1928–1939: podstawy finansowe, dodatki i prześladowania pisma".Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish). No. 4. pp. 527–528.
^Cygański, Mirosław (1984). "Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945".Przegląd Zachodni (in Polish) (4): 38.
^Wardzyńska, Maria (2003). ""Intelligenzaktion" na Warmii, Mazurach i północnym Mazowszu".Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej (in Polish). No. 12-1 (35-36).IPN. p. 39.ISSN1641-9561.
^Viktoria Vierheller (1970).Polen und die Deutschland-Frage 1939-1949 (in German). Vol. 23. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik. p. 105.Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach.Niederschlesien 1942 bis 1949: alliierte Diplomatie und Nachkriegswirklichheit (in German). Bergstadtverlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn. pp. 96–97.
^ab"Zamek w Olsztynie".olsztyndzisiaj.pl (in Polish). 1 June 2011. Retrieved9 March 2023.
^W. Knercer, Cmentarze i zabytki kultury żydowskiej w województwie olsztyńskim, "Borussia", no. 6, 1993, p. 53; vide K. Forstreuter, Die ersten Juden in Ostpreussen, "Altpreussische Forschungen", ch. 14, 1937, pp. 42–48.
^"Miesięczna suma opadu".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved31 January 2022.
^"Liczba dni z opadem >= 0,1 mm".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved31 January 2022.
^"Średnia grubość pokrywy śnieżnej".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved31 January 2022.
^"Średnia suma usłonecznienia (h)".Normy klimatyczne 1991-2020 (in Polish). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Archived fromthe original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved31 January 2022.
The list includes the 107 urban municipalities governed by acity mayor (prezydent miasta) instead of a town mayor (burmistrz) ·Cities with powiat rights are initalics · Voivodeship cities are inbold
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
%2c_XV-XIX_w..jpg)
.png)
-headlines_16_04_1886.png)
_-_16.04.1917.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
