Gołdap Market Square (Victory Square)

Victory Square (Plac Zwycięstwa) is the former market square of Gołdap – a space so large that before the war it was regarded as the second-largest market square in East Prussia. Today it is hard to recognise the old trading centre: instead of a town hall and a church there is a park with a pond, fountains and a footbridge, surrounded mostly by post-war apartment blocks. Even so, it is worth a look as a good starting point for exploring the spa town of Gołdap.

History: a great market place

Gołdap was founded in 1565 by Duke Albrecht of Hohenzollern to strengthen the border with Lithuania, and received town rights in 1570. The town was famous for its large cattle and horse fairs, and its burghers were renowned as shoemakers, cloth-makers and bakers. The town burned many times: in 1623 fire destroyed every building except the town hall, and in 1834 a blaze consumed 266 buildings. In 1856 a neo-Gothic brick church with a tall tower was built on the market. It burned out in 1944–1945, and its tower was demolished in 1956.

Did you know?

According to accounts, when the Tatars burned the town in 1657, Mayor Dullo was roasted alive on a spit right on the market square. Before the war, the square also had a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Count Dönhoff 44th Infantry Regiment, in front of the court building. Almost nothing of that market survives – the town was badly damaged in both world wars.

Tripto tips

The square is open around the clock. No. 16 houses the Tourist Information Centre, and No. 14 the Kultura cinema. In the park section you will find a pond with fountains, a footbridge and a sundial; a quarter of an hour is enough for a stroll. Gołdap is a climate and peat-mud spa: by the lake stand brine graduation towers, opened in 2014 as the fourth such facility in Poland, and the Spa Park has a mineral-water pump room and a salt grotto. In winter the slopes of Piękna Góra offer more than 2,000 m of ski runs and 5 lifts, including a chairlift.