Tykocin Castle was reconstructed on the foundations of the 16th century royal castle of the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus. The reconstruction of the body was conducted on the basis of archaeological data and historical sources. The area of the castle was also carefully explored with regard to archaeological findings.
History of the Castle
The beginnings of the city are connected to Mazowiecki Town, which was located approximately 3 km to the south from the current location. Till today, near Sierki village there is a town called Zamczysko (Castle). This was Mazowiecki town of castellan’s line with a settlement beyond town’s walls between the 11th and the 14th century. A great development of trade exchange since the end of the 14th century between Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania contributed to flourishing of urban settlement along trade routes going from east to west. The trade route from Moscow to Vilnius in a direction to Poznan and Krakow, went with one of its roads through Grodno and Łomża, crossing Narew Rover in Nieciece village; thus, in a distance of several kilometres from contemporary Tykocin to the west. It is assumed that as a shortcut of the former road crossing the river in Nieciece, Tykocin was found.
The first founder of Tykocin was Piotr of Gumowo who received the privilege of Tykocin voytship from Janusz Mazowiecki the Duke in 1424. Town privileges were given to Tykocin by Janusz I the Duke in 1425. Since 1433, Tykocin, together with vast manors was a property of the Gostautas from Lithuania. Tykocin was in hands of this family for over a hundred years till 1542. In 1522 the first Jews settled in Tykocin. The Gostautas also brought Russian people to their Lithuanian manors, who settled the eastern part of the city and the neighbouring villages. Russian Boyars from Sierki village performed different tasks for the benefit of the castle and manor of a squire in Tykocin. In the city, apart from a parish church, there were synagogue and Orthodox church.
In 1542, after a death of the last descendant from the clan of Stanislovas Gostautus , the goods of Tykocin were in the hands of Sigismund-Augustus. The King created forestry and governor's office of Tykocin. In 1569, Tykocin and whole Podlasie were incorporated to the Crown and it was a place where King Sigismund-Augustus, Sigismund III and Ladislas IV often stayed. Thanks to comfortable location, at the junction of trade route, Tykocin -grantee with royal privileges- was developing as the trade and craft centre (milling, brewing, distillation). On the Narew River emerged a harbour, from which cereals, forest goods and military hardware flew to Gdańsk. Local Jewish commune belonged to the most opulent in the Crown. Local kahal was the second most import_ant in Poland after Cracovian (in Kazimierz).
At that time, Tykocin became more significant thanks to the fact that the castle was built on the Narew islet . It was the great stronghold and the favourite place (next to Knyszna) of King Sigismund-Augustus, the last from Jagiellonian family. The fortified castle preformed a role of the royal residence and contained the main royal arsenal as well as library, and treasury. In the town also functioned- for some time- royal mint, situated in the town square.
In 1661, King Jan Kazimierz devolved goods of Tykocin upon hetman's Stefan Czarniecki property- the hero of Swedish wars. Then, the goods were devolved-within the confines of family affinity- upon the Branicki family, in this way Tykocin became the second most import_ant centre (next to Białystok)of their goods in Podlasie. In mid- XVIII century, Jan Klemens, the last offspring of the Branicki family, made huge investments, decorating town in the spirit of baroque town-planning and architecture.
In the 19th century the successive heirs of Tykocin were the Potocki and Rostworowski family. During annexation, the town was -at the beginning- under the Prussian authority. After the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Tykocin was in the boarder of the Duchy of Warsaw. From 1815 until regaining independance (1918) belonged to the Kingdom of Poland. In the interwar period Tykocin was inclued to wysokomazowiecki district. After World War II, the town was seriously destroyed and deprived of Jewish population killed by Nazi (on 25-26.08.1941 about 2500 of people were murdered), that constituted a bigger part of its inhabitants. In 1950, Tykocin lost its city rights, becoming the settlement.
In 1993, Tykocin regained its city rights. Nowadays, the town plays the role of the commune centre of public and administration; it is population and agirculture service centre, as well as, culture and sport centre. Its new role in the area of tourist traffic service has been developing for many years. It results not only from the attractive location in the picturesque Narew valley, but also from the fact, that Tykocin constitutes one of the outstanding places among the historic complexes in the Podlasie Province. Thanks to these qualities,Tykocin is visited by about 60 000 of tourists annually. In Tykocin, to the extent bigger than elsewhere in Podlasie, survived an image of the old Polish town, which carries - in its spatial and architectural shape- the hertiage of the previous epochs.
Address of the Castle:
Zamek w Tykocinie
ul. Puchalskiego 3
Tykocin