SIERAKÓW
The town is located in the Międzychód-Sieraków Lake District area, on the Warta river, ca. 74 km west of Poznań. It probably owes its name to its former owner, a certain Sierak. April 1939 saw the foundation in Sieraków of Poland’s first School of Fisheries.
History
The original location of a local mediaeval settlement was dictated by the proximity of a ford which enabled easy crossing. Sieraków was granted its municipal rights before 1388. Over centuries, it was a private-owned town – property of the Nałęcz, Górka and Opaliński families.
In the sixteenth century, trading activity was in flourish locally, as Sieraków was situated by the route set from Poznań to Szczecin. In 1752, the then-proprietor, Maria Leszczyńska, the queen consort of France, sold the town to Heinrich von Brühl, the minister to the King Augustus III the Saxon (1696–1763).
Following the 2nd Partition of Poland, 1793, Sieraków was passed to the Prussian rule and rather soon afterwards regained liberty – for a short time, though – within the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815). The town regained its independence in January 1919. Following the years of Nazi occupation terror, 1939 to 1945, Złotów was eventually liberated by the Red Army.
Situated between Lutomskie and Jaroszewskie Lakes, Złotow has a well-developed extensive tourist infrastructure and develops as a buoyant tourist and relaxation hub.
Worth Seeing
In Poznańska Street, you will find a beautiful late-renaissance church of Our Lady the Immaculately Conceived, built 1625–1639. The temple is richly furnished, a.o. with paintings by Krzysztof Boguszewski in the side altars and family tombstones of the Opalińskis. Near the church stands a rococo statue of Our Lady of 1799.
Not far away is the building of a former Holy Spirit Hospital of 1838. In 8-Stycznia St. is a wattle-and-daub Evangelical church dated 1782–1785.
The reconstructed southern wing of the former Opaliński Castle, situated on the Warta, the Opaliński Castle Museum is housed.
Sieraków boasts its 150 years of tradition of Stallion Herd breeding.
Moreover, Sieraków is famous for its environmental values, Sierakowski Landscape Park or the ‘Buki’ Forest Reserve on Lutomskie Lake, located south-east of the town.
For more information, go to:
www.sierakow.pl/en
