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Tykocin

Coordinates: 53°12′N 22°47′E / 53.200°N 22.783°E / 53.200; 22.783
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Tykocin
Street in Tykocin
Street in Tykocin
Coat of arms of Tykocin
Coat of arms
Country Poland
VoivodeshipPodlaskie
CountyBiałystok
GminaTykocin
Established11th century
Town rights1425
Government
 • MayorKrzysztof Chlebowicz
Population
 (2006)
 • Total1,893
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
16-080
Area code+48 85
Car platesBIA
Websitetykocin.podlaskie.pl

Tykocin [tɨˈkɔt͡ɕin] (German: Tykotzin; [] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: no text (help)טיקטין) is an old, smaller size town in north-eastern Poland, with 1,800 inhabitants (1998), located on the Narew river. Tykocin has been situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship since 1999. Previously, it belonged to Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is one of the oldest settlements in the region.

History of the town

The name of Tykocin was first mentioned in the 11th century and through the 14th century it was a Duchy of Masovian castellany seat and castle on the Masovian border neighboring the growing medieval pagan Lithuania. Tykocin received city rights from prince Janusz I of Warsaw in 1425, but several months later it was given to Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the Polish king Wladyslaw II Jagiello.

Shortly later, or about 1433 AD, Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis gave the town along with other towns to Jonas Gostautas, and it become the important power seat of that Lithuanian magnate Gostautai family clan. During 1560s, upon the family last member passing away, the town became one of the favorite properties for Polish king and Lithuanian Grand Prince Sigismund II Augustus who had a Renaissance castle built there instead of the medieval one. It became property of the Crown and eventually it was awarded to hetman Stefan Czarniecki, later on through marriage of Czarniecki's daughters it passed to Branicki Gryf coat-of-arms family.

After the Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth one of the Branickis, Isabela Branicka, sold the town to the Prussian government circa 1795. In 1807 it was given to Russia as a part of the Treaty of Tilsit. In 1815 it was returned to the Congress Poland. During the interwar period, the population of Tykocin had reached an estimated 4,000 inhabitants. In 1950 Tykocin lost its city rights due to heavy loss of life during World War II, only to regain it in 1993 after the collapse of communism.

The Holocaust

The Jewish population of Tykocin estimated at 2,000 persons was eradicated by Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. On 25–26 August 1941 the Jewish residents of Tykocin were assembled at the market square for "relocation", and then marched and trucked by the Nazis into the nearby Łopuchowo forest,[1][2] where they were executed in waves into pits by SS Einsatzkommando Zichenau-Schroettersburg under SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper.[3] A memorial now exists outside the city.

Points of interest

  • Castle of II Augustus built before 1469, extended in 16th century and partially reconstructed in 2005
  • The Baroque Tykocin Synagogue Bejt ha-Kneset ha-Godol, built in 1642, one of the best preserved in Poland from that period, is a major tourist attraction.
  • A baroque Church of the Holy Trinity and former monastery of Congregation of Mission founded in 1742 by Jan Klemens Branicki
  • Baroque monastery dating from 1771-90
  • Former military hospital from 1755
  • Jewish cemetery - one of the oldest in Poland
  • a lot of white storks and their nests
  • Church of the Holy Trinity
    Church of the Holy Trinity
  • Baroque Jewish Synagogue
    Baroque Jewish Synagogue
  • Castle after reconstruction
    Castle after reconstruction
  • Main altar at Holy Trinity
    Main altar at Holy Trinity

Notable individuals

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tykocin.
  1. ^ Template:Pl icon "Rocznica zagłady żydowskiego Tykocina," (commemoration) Gazeta Wyborcza Białystok, 24 August 2009
  2. ^ Tykocin na mapie polskich judaików, at www.kirkuty.xip.pl
  3. ^ Alexander B. Rossino, "Contextualizing Anti-Jewish Violence in the Białystok District during the Opening Weeks of Operation Barbarossa," Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Volume 16 (2003)
  4. ^ Jan Smółko, deposition made available by the Ostberg Foundation, New York; Okręgowa Komisja Badania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Białymstoku, Merkuriusz Mszonowski, 4(150), 2009, page 34

53°12′N 22°47′E / 53.200°N 22.783°E / 53.200; 22.783

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