Złotów

Złotów is a small county town in the historical Krajna region, on the border of Greater Poland and Pomerania, set on the Głomia river and five lakes: Miejskie (Złotowskie), Baba, Burmistrzowskie, Proboszczowskie and Zaleskie. People come for the 4-kilometre promenade around Lake Miejskie, the Baroque parish church with the Grudziński crypt and a church designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. At noon, head to the roundabout on al. Piasta, where a deer statue turns on its axis to the sound of rutting calls and the town bugle call.

History: from Wielatowo to Flatow

The town's first name, Wielatowo, comes from the Veleti tribe – hence also the German Flatow. The town's founding date is taken to be 3 November 1370, when Casimir the Great bequeathed Wielatowo to his grandson Casimir of Słupsk. In the early 17th century Jan Potulicki built a castle, which the Swedes burned down together with the town in 1657 – revenge on voivode Andrzej Karol Grudziński, who had switched back to the Polish side after his treason during the Deluge. After the First Partition in 1772 Złotów passed to Prussia, and from 1820 to 1922 the estate belonged to the Hohenzollerns.

After the First World War the Treaty of Versailles left the town in Germany. In 1923 the 5th district of the Union of Poles in Germany was founded here, and in 1929 the Union bought an Art Nouveau townhouse on today's Domańskiego Street and turned it into the Polish House. Złotów returned to Poland in 1945. In 2024 it had 16,607 inhabitants.

What to see

• The Church of the Assumption (1661–1664), founded by Andrzej Karol Grudziński. The high altar holds "The Coronation of the Virgin" by Paulus Hack, painted in 1666. In the crypt, which is open to visitors, lie the mummified bodies of the founder's parents, and the metal coffin of his young son bears a rare child's coffin portrait – the coffin itself turned out to be empty.
• St Stanislaus Kostka Church on pl. Kościuszki – a former Protestant church in Neoclassical style from 1829–1830, designed by Schinkel and funded by King Frederick William III. It stands on the site of the medieval town hall.
• The Działyński Palace from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, remodelled in the 1830s to Schinkel's design, with a park.
• The Złotów Land Museum in a half-timbered building from the second half of the 18th century – archaeological, historical and ethnographic collections.
• The Polish House (1905) at ul. Domańskiego 5 and the town hall of 1914, designed by Adolf Behr.
• The Piast the Wheelwright monument from 1957 in front of the county office – said to be the only one of its kind in Poland.
• The lapidarium on Jewish Hill (2006), made from fragments of 143 gravestones found during building works, and the outline of the synagogue destroyed in 1938 on pl. Paderewskiego.

The promenade and Krajna Farmstead

An illuminated 4 km promenade with a separate cycle lane runs around Lake Miejskie (about 47 ha). Along the way you pass a wooden footbridge over the Głomia, a viewing platform and a "Duckomat" selling feed for waterfowl. On the Fishermen's Peninsula there are a hedge maze, a playground and boards on the history of the town and the castle destroyed by the Swedes, and in season three illuminated fountains play on the lake. Next door is the Krajna Farmstead – a small open-air museum with a cottage, barn, cowshed and a working smithy with a water wheel, where you can hire a city bike.

Tripto tips

The promenade and the exteriors of the monuments are free; allow 1.5–2 hours for a walk around the lake and half a day for the whole town. The tourist information point is in the Galeria za winklem at pl. Paderewskiego 13, open daily 10:00–17:00 in the summer season (tel. +48 780 134 919); on Saturdays in the summer holidays a guided "Walk around Złotów" starts at 15:00. You can reach Złotów by train from Piła or Chojnice.