Suwałki
Distance: 21 km
Travel time: 30 min
Inhabitants: 70.000
The former capital of the Suwałki region is the largest city in the immediate vicinity and after Białystok the second largest city in the Podlaskie voivodeship. There are still two district administrations here.
The former village was founded by Hungarian Kamaldulensern before 1690.
As early as 1720, the city of August II was awarded the Magdeburg city rights. After the third partition of Poland, the city fell in 1795 to Prussia. With the conclusion of the Tilsit peace, the city belonged since 1807 to the Warsaw Principality and since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the Kingdom of Poland.
Different ethnic groups such as Poland, Germans, Lithuanians, Jews and Tatars shaped the rise of the city within a century, especially in trade and crafts.
In 1993, Suwałki was honored by the Council of Europe for its efforts to protect the natural environment.
Touristic attractions:
The historic city center with the preserved 19th-century urban development planning and the classicist construction along the main traffic artery of the city and the adjoining park is one of the few facilities of this kind in Poland.
These include some classicist buildings of profane architecture, such as the former seat of the voivodship committee or the town hall.
The church buildings worth seeing include the St. Alexander Church from the beginning of the 19th century, the well-preserved Protestant-Augsburg church and the formerly Russian Orthodox Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Old Market.
The District Museum, a former social club, honors the city's eventful history. The city has produced well-known personalities such as For example, the writer Maria Konopnicka or the famous film director Andrzej Wajda.
Shopping / Hints:
A city of this size offers the best shopping in the immediate area. Western companies such as Plus, Kaufland, Real, Deichmann, Rossmann, Obi, or Lidl have arrived and are just one example of the growing progress within the city.
Many individual shops - but also a new shopping mall called "PLaza" and the slightly older department store called "Arkadia" offer a wide range. A weekly market, pharmacies, banks, post offices, petrol stations, hardware stores, furniture stores, restaurants, cafes, ice cream parlors, etc. can be found in several variants.
The design of the old town with pedestrian zones is increasingly gaining in flair. In the summer there are often festivals with music groups, which transform the adjacent park into a party mile.