Jan Klemens Branicki, the Grand Hetman of the Crown employed famous architects and artists for these works, including Jan Henryk Klemm and Pierre’a de Coudray. In addition to the historic layout of the town, Tykocin also has monuments of supra-regional importance: the seminary, the synagogue. Tykocin also has unquestionable historical values associated with such families and people as the Gasztołdow, Wiesiołowski, Branicki, Łukasz Górnicki, Stefan Czarniecki. Polish kings resided in the Tykocin castle - the most formidable fortress of the 17th-century, and here was the arsenal of the Polish Commonwealth. One of the most powerful (influential) and richest qahals in the Polish Commonwealth operated in Tykocin from the 16th century until World War II.

History of the object

The beginnings of Tykocin should be linked to the stronghold functioning there since the 14th century, and the crossing over the Narew River. Town privileges were granted to Tykocin in 1425. In 1437 the parish was established. It was founded by the Gasztołd family that ruled over Tykocin until 1542. They also built the first wooden fortifications. In 1479, on the so-called Kępa Narewska (a hillock at Narew River), to the east from the fortifications, they founded a church and Bernardine monastery. In 1522, they granted to the Jews of Grodno a privilege, which became the basis for the functioning of a large Jewish community in Tykocin. In 1542, Tykocin and the surrounding estates became the property of King Sigismund II Augustus, who in the second half of the 16th century, he ordered to erect a new brick castle in the place of the former Gasztołd castle - the famous Tykocin fortress. During the time of his reign, the town was submitted to Volok Reform, which marked, among others, the New Market that was situated to the east from the Main Market. Next to it was an Orthodox church and a church with a Bernardine monastery which was to be inhabited by monks, but this did not happen. In the first half of the 17th century, Krzysztof Wiesiołowski, the starost of Tykocin, founded a seminary (a house for war invalids). In 1642, a large brick synagogue was built. During the “Deluge", the castle was partially blown up and was not rebuilt. In 1661, for his war merits Hetman Stefan Czarniecki received the town along with the starosty, and later his grandson, Hetman Jan Klemens Branicki, who, through extensive construction activities, gave the town a new look. At that time the Square was rebuilt (according to the design by Jan Henryk Klemm), it was changed into its present, regular form, a new brick baroque parish church closing the eastern frontage of the market and the presbitery for missionary priests were built, and in the south-eastern frontage - a hospital, as a compositional equivalent of the seminary located in the northern corner.  After the middle of the 18th century, wooden residential houses were erected around the square, with their ridges runing parallel to its frontages, unlike the old gable buildings. The final element of the composition of the market square was the statue of Stefan Czarniecki sculpted by Pierre de Coudray. It was erected in 1763. In 1771, a new street was created. It was leading south from the market to the newly erected Bernardine complex (where the monks had moved). In the mid-18th century, brick stalls, each on a regular horseshoe plan, were made near the synagogue, and a Talmudic house was built at the end of that century. In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were no significant changes in the spatial layout of the town.

Description of the object

Tykocin is located to the south of the Narew River, over which a bridge directed north from the Market Square leads to a building erected on the site of the former castle at the turn of 20th and 21st centuries. This construction refers to the the historic fortifications. In the centre of the town there is a large, regular Market Square, laid out on a rectangular plan, with its longer side paralel to the river. The eastern frontage of the Market Square is occupied by a brick seminary, a baroque church and a former hospital. Northern frontage of the Market Square is built up with similar houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the center of the square there is a statue of Stefan Czarniecki. The Bernardine monastery complex (18th century) is located to the south from the Market Square. In the south-western part of the town, there is a Jewish quarter with a synagogue, a Talmudic house and a cemetery, and in the south-eastern part - historic Roman Catholic cemetery. Visitor access: The object is open to visitors.

Author of the note: Grażyna Rogala, 20 December 2014

Bibliography

• Taranta I., Tykocin – urbanistyczny palimpsets, “Biuletyn Konserwatorski Województwa Podlaskiego”, fol. 20, 2014, pp. 119-150.
• Wroczyńska E., Śródmieście Tykocina w XVI w. Przyczynek do historii kształtowania się przestrzeni miasta, [in:] Czas na Podlasie. Tykocin, Białystok 2006, pp. 45-64.
• J. Kubiak, Tykocin, [in:] Miasta historical, ed. W. Kalinowski, Warsaw 1986, pp. 527-536.
• Trzebiński W., Działalność urbanistyczna magnatów i szlachty w Polsce XVIII wieku, Warsaw 1962, pp. 101-110.