This is the place

About Złotów

Złotów is a 18-thousand district town located on the river Głomia, in the northern part of the Wielkopolskie Province (Great Poland Region), within the distance of 35 km from Piła, 80 km from Bydgoszcz and 120 from Poznań. It is situated in the very heart of the historical land of Krajna, between the Great Poland Region and the Region of Pomerania. Złotów is the seat of the Złotów district authorities, many public and financial institutions as well as primary, secondary vocational and post-secondary schools. Two provincial roads cross here: no 188 from Piła to Człuchów and no 189 from Jastrowie to Więcbork as well as Piła-Chojnice railway line.

Złotów Coat of Arms

Herbem miasta jest jeleń spacerujący wśród drzew liściastych i iglastych. Według legendy to właśnie jeleń wskazał rycerzom drogę do zamku rozbójników, którzy rabowali podróżnych wędrujących po pobliskich lasach. Wizerunek jelenia można zobaczyć na wielu budynkach miasta, m.in. na fasadzie Ratusza (Piasta 1), Domu Polskiego /Dom Polski/, Domańskiego 5), Areszcie Śledczym (dawny budynek sądu przy Placu Kościuszki 3 (Plac Kościuszki 3) i Liceum Ogólnokształcące (Bohaterów Westerplatte 9).Ponadto rzeźby jeleni w naturalnej wielkości można znaleźć na rondzie w pobliżu Ratusza oraz na terenie Półwyspu Rybackiego/Półwysep Rybacki/przy zegarze słonecznym.

Our story

History

Złotów under the name of "Wielatów" appears for the first time in written chronicles in the heritage left by the Polish king - Casimir the Great in 1370. The town was probably granted its municipal rights at the end of the 14th century. Over the years the town belonged to such noblemen families as: The Kościelecki, Łabyski, Potulicki, Grudziński and Działyński. The oldest town document from the town office is a document by the mayor and town councilors to Gdańsk dating from the year 1446. At the beginning of the 17th century, Jan Potulicki erected in Złotów a castle in the Renaissance style that was destroyed by Swedish troops during the Swedish invasion. The scene of the castle's siege is presented on a copperplate created by Erich Dahlberg, the quartermaster of the Swedish army. In 1665, an heir of Złotów at that time - Andrzej Karol Grudziński issued a document confirming existing rights and granting new privileges for the town. After the first partition of Poland in 1772 Złotów was incorporated into the borders of the Prussian state. For centuries such nations as Poles, Germans and the Jews lived here side by side and the inhabitants represented three religions: Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism. The Złotów Land constituted in the Kwidzyń administrative district the area with the highest percentage of inhabitants speaking Polish as their native language. In 1902 Polish Bank Ludowy was established in Złotów and in 1906 the Polish "Rolnik" cooperative. After the First World War the Złotów Land was granted to the Germans and after the administrative changes it became a part of Piła adminstrative district. Starting from 1923 Złotów was a capital of the 5th District of the Association of Poles in Germany that contributed to maintaining Polish culture within the lands incorporated into Germany. In 1945 the town returned into the borders of Poland.

Objects worth seeing:

  • Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny Baroque Church erected in the years 1661-64 by the Poznań voivode - Andrzej Karol Grudziński. The central part of the main altar is occupied by the picture of "Coronation of the Holy Virgin Mary" created in 1666 by a painter Paulus Hack.
  • Działyńskis' Palace from the turn of the 18th and 19th century that was built in the classicist style with a park complex and rebuilt in the thirties of the 19th c. at the request of the Hohenzollerns according to a design by the Prussian architect - Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
  • Stanisław Kostka Post-Prostestant Church in Kościuszki Square erected in the years 1829-30 built in the classicist style according to a design by the Prussian architect - Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In the vicinity of the Church there is a building of an old court made of red brick dating from 1866. (now serving as a detention centre).
  • St. Rocha Neo-Gothic Church from 1904. Next to the Church there is a no longer used Protestant cemetary, where a lapidarium was built in 1998 as well as a war cemetary of soldiers who died fighting for the Złotów Land in 1945.
  • Lapidarium on Góra Żydowska created in 2006 from fragments of 143 tomb plates from the previous Jewish cemetary that were found in the town during construction works.
  • Building at Domańskiego 5 from 1905 with a facade in the Art Nouveau style, where the seat of the 5th Department of the Association of Poles in Germany was located.
  • Townhall erected in 1914 according to a design by Adolf Behr.
  • Roundabout near the Townhall at Piasta St. where everyday at noon the deer monument makes a full rotating movement accompanied by mating roars, hunting signals and the town bugle-call.
  • Paderewskiego Square with an outline of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1938.
  • The unique and only monument of Piast Kołodziej unveiled in 1957 in front of the Neo-Renaissance building of the District Starost Office in Złotów from the years 1911-12.
  • Ethnographic exhibition in Zagroda Krajeńska at the promenade over Jezioro Miejskie.

Museum of the Złotów Land

is located in a historical timber-framed building from the second half of the 18th century. The Museum boasts of large archeological, historical and ethnographic collections connected with Złotów and the surrounding area.

Opening Hours

monday-friday 8-16
saturday 10-14

Ticket prices

Regular 3 zł
Half-price 2 zł
Group 1 zł/persons

Muzeum w Złotowie 2017