Tykocin (; ) is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a Historic Monument of Poland.[
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History
Middle Ages
The name of Tykocin was first mentioned in the 11th century. Through the 14th century, it was a castellany in the Duchy of Masovia on the border with pagan Lithuania. Tykocin received its city rights from prince Janusz I of Warsaw in 1425, but several months later, the settlement was transferred to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (within the Polish-Lithuanian Union) by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło. Shortly later, in around 1433, Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis gave the town along with other surrounding villages to Jonas Gostautas, and it became the most important seat of the Lithuanian Gostautai noble family.
Early modern era
In the 1542, upon the death of Gostautai family's last member, the town was acquired by Polish king and Lithuanian Grand Prince Sigismund II Augustus[ It subsequently became a royal town of the Polish Crown, located within the Podlaskie Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province. In 1572, Polish Renaissance writer Łukasz Górnicki was appointed starost of Tykocin by Sigismund II Augustus.][ Later on, the town was awarded to Hetman Stefan Czarniecki for his military service during the Swedish invasion of Poland][ in 1661.][ Afterwards, through the marriage of Czarniecki's daughters, it passed to the Branicki (Gryf coat-of-arms) family. From 1513 until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Tykocin was a county (powiat) seat.
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It was Tykocin, where in 1705, King Augustus II the Strong established the Order of the White Eagle, the highest and oldest Polish order.[Tomasz Święcki, Opis starożytnéy Polski, tom I, Zawadzki i Węcki, Warszawa, 1816, p. 420–421 (in Polish)]
Most of Tykocin's landmarks was built in this era, including the Holy Trinity Church, monasteries of the Congregation of the Mission and the Bernardines, the former 17th-century military hospital, the synagogue and the statue of hetman Stefan Czarniecki.[
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Late modern era and recent times
Following the Partitions of Poland Tykocin was annexed by Prussia[ and Izabella Poniatowska-Branicka sold the town to the Prussian government in 1795. In 1807, it was briefly regained by Poles as part of the Duchy of Warsaw in accordance to the Treaty of Tilsit.][ In 1815, it became part of the Congress Poland,][ later on forcibly annexed by Russian Empire.
During the November Uprising, on 21 May 1831, Polish insurgents won a battle against the Russians at Tykocin.][ During the uprising, Tykocin was attacked by a Cossack unit led by Captain Dmitriyev, who forced the populace to sign a request to the tsarist administration to make him the town's military superior.][ Katalog miejsc pamięci powstania styczniowego w województwie podlaskim, p. 14-15] In this way, he obtained office, and then committed macabre murders of the inhabitants.[ Katalog miejsc pamięci powstania styczniowego w województwie podlaskim, p. 15] Dmitryev's cruelty even caused the Russians themselves to report him to the tsarist authorities, but he was only fined.[
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Tykocin was reintegrated with Poland after the country regained independence after World War I in 1918. During the interwar period, the population of Tykocin had reached an estimated 4,000 inhabitants.
During World War II, it was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941 and the Germans from 1941 to 1944.[ The Jewish population of Tykocin, estimated at 2,000 people, was eradicated by 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,][ "Rocznica zagłady żydowskiego Tykocina," (commemoration) Gazeta Wyborcza Białystok, 24 August 2009][ Tykocin na mapie polskich judaików, at www.kirkuty.xip.pl] where they were executed in waves into pits by SS Einsatzkommando Zichenau-Schroettersburg under SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper.[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)] A memorial now exists outside the town for the Tykocin pogrom.
In 1950, Tykocin lost its town rights due to population loss in World War II, only to regain it in 1993. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the former Białystok Voivodeship.
Points of interest
Tykocin contains a preserved historic center listed as a Historic Monument of Poland.
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Tykocin Castle built before 1469, extended in 16th century and partially reconstructed in 2005
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The Baroque Tykocin Synagogue Bejt ha-Kneset ha-Godol, built in 1642, one of the best preserved in Poland from that period and a major tourist attraction.
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A baroque Church of the Holy Trinity and former monastery of Congregation of Mission founded in 1742 by Jan Klemens Branicki
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Baroque Bernardine Monastery from 1771–90
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Monument of hetman Stefan Czarniecki from 1763
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Former military hospital from 1633–1647, the Alumnat, one of the oldest of its kind in Europe, now a hotel
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Baroque manor house Rezydencja ekonomiczna, currently the Center of Culture, Sport and Tourism
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17th-century memorial to Renaissance poet Łukasz Górnicki erected by his sons
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Catholic cemetery, dating back to the 18th century
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Jewish cemetery – one of the oldest in Poland
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Monument of the White Eagle from 1982, referring to the establishment of the Order of the White Eagle in Tykocin in 1705
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Abundance of and their nests in the area
File:Tykocin voyage fc02.jpg|18th-century statue of hetman Stefan Czarniecki
File:Tykocin kościół Św. Trójcy 4.JPG|Church of the Holy Trinity and Narew River Bridge
File:Tykocin 8299.jpg|Church of the Holy Trinity
File:2013 Main altar of Trinity Church in Tykocin - 02.jpg|Main altar at Holy Trinity
File:Wielka Synagoga i Dom Talmudyczny (Mała Synagoga).jpg|Great Synagogue and Little Synagogue
File:2013 Hotel Alumnat in Tykocin - 01.jpg|Former 17th-century military hospital, now a hotel and restaurant
File:Tykocin klasztor 02.jpg|Bernardine Monastery
Transport
The Voivodeship road 671 runs through Tykocin and links it with the S8 highway, which passes nearby, south of the town.
Notable individuals
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Joshua Höschel ben Joseph, a Polish rabbi born in Wilno
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Jan Klemens Branicki, Field Crown Hetman of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
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Bolesław Gebert, Communist Party official
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Łukasz Górnicki, Renaissance writer, Chancellor of Sigismund Augustus of Poland
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Michał Jankowski (1842–1912), Polish insurgent against Russian rule, sybirak, naturalist
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Mikołaj Ostroróg, a Polish-Lithuanian szlachcic
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Bogusław Radziwiłł, an Imperial Prince of the Holy Roman Empire
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Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–1655), Polish prince, magnate and Field Hetman of Lithuania
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Paweł Jan Sapieha, Hetman and military commander
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Jan Smółko (b. 1907, Armia Krajowa alias Lokalizator), wife Władysława (b. 1908), Polish Righteous among the Nations – produced over a hundred fake IDs for Tykocin Jews during World War II, based on Catholic parish records.
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Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner (d. 1550)
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Krzysztof Wiesiołowski, nobleman, starost of Tykocin
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Mark Zamenhof (1837–1907), teacher, father of L. L. Zamenhof
External links
