Tykocin
Town’s coordinates
Tykocin town, Bialystok district, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland, 16-080.
Miasto Tykocin, Powiat białostocki, Województwo podlaskie, Polska, 16-080.
Latitude – 53.2062669, longitude – 22.7740605.
Point on the Google map
Distance to all other locations of our route in kilometers
Barysaw – 463 km
Zembin – 465 km
Lyubcha – 268 km
Smilavichy – 402 km
Navahrudak – 243 km
Izabielin (Padarosk) – 145 km
Orla – 85 km
Krynki – 30 km
Bialystok – 31 km
Local guides and local historians
For a guide, contact the Museum in Tykocin (Address: ul. Kozia, 2, Tykocin, Powiat białostocki, Województwo podlaskie, Polska; Phone: +48 85 718-16-13).
Museums
Muzeum in Tykocin: Branch of the Podlaskie Museum in Bialystok (Muzeum w Tykocinie: Oddział Muzeum Podlaskiego w Białymstoku)
The Muzeum in Tykocin, together with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the Museum in the Old Synagogue in Krakow, belongs to museums with the most valuable collections and exhibitions on Judaism in Poland. The residence of the museum is the restored Great Synagogue and the rebuilt Talmudic House, located nearby.
In the main hall, you can see a rich collection of historical ritual objects in glass cases, including candlesticks for Shabbat, Hanukkah lamps, Seder plates, besaminkas, kiddush cups, mezuzahs, a fragment of a Torah scroll and other exhibits that come from different parts of Poland.
Only several objects of use, which are in the museum, belonged to Tykocin Jews: four Shabbat candlesticks, about fifteen Hanukkah caps, a fragment of a Hanukkah lamp and several books. A separate showcase displays memorabilia donated by Avram Kapitz, one of the few local Jews who survived World War II.
The former women’s gallery hosts temporary exhibitions on Jewish themes. In the tower of the synagogue there is a rabbi’s room and a room with a table set for the Passover dinner. More details at the link.
There are permanent exhibitions in the nearby Talmudic House: “Zygmunt Bujnowski Painting Gallery”, “Gloger’s Office” (ethnographer and tour expert, author of the Old Polish Encyclopaedia, who lived in the nearby Yezhava estate), “Former pharmacy in the town”.
This part of the museum covers the entire history of Tykocin from the late Middle Ages to the second half of the 20th century. The central elements of the exhibition are the noble salon dedicated to the history of the Branicki family of the Gryf coat of arms, as well as the installation that reminds of the original purpose of the building – Jewish theological school. The culmination of the exhibition is a room dedicated to the history of the town during the Second World War.
Phone: +48 85 718-16-13.
Address: ul. Kozia, 2, Tykocin, Powiat białostocki, Województwo podlaskie.
Link: http://muzeum.bialystok.pl/muzeum-w-tykocinie
Coordinates: 53.2066379, 22.7671271.
Tykocin Castle Museum (Zamek w Tykocinie).The building was restored at the beginning of the 21st century on the foundation of the 16th century royal castle, which was founded by the Polish king and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus. Now the building houses a museum, a restaurant and a hotel.
On a tour of the exhibition, halls and dungeons, the history of Tykocin castle is told. For example, in the Glass Room you can see a reconstructed tiled stove, one of the largest in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The prison tower of the castle is the highest observation point in the neighborhood, from where you can observe the life of the castle storks.
Phone: +48 85 718-73-72.
Address: ul. Puchalskiego, 3, Tykocin, Powiat białostocki, Województwo podlaskie.
Link: https://zamekwtykocinie.pl/zwiedzanie
Coordinates: 53.2131065, 22.7683072.
Jewish cult buildings and places of power
Great Synagogue (Wielka synagoga), now a museum. Ul. Kozia, 2.Built in 1642 on the site of the former wooden synagogue. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the synagogue became a major Jewish intellectual center, and Tykocin itself, one of the most important Jewish centers in Poland: its community was considered “the second most important after the Krakow one”. You can learn more about the history of the Jewish community at the link.
The synagogue functioned until the Second World War. After the mass murder of Jews in Tykocin on August 25 and 26, 1941, the Germans began liquidating Jewish property. The Great Synagogue was turned into a warehouse: things from Jewish homes were brought there. In the post-war period, warehouses were still located in the building, but the ones for artificial fertilizers. In 1965, a fire broke out in the synagogue and destroyed completely the building, the library and the archives of the Jewish community. In 1974-1978, major repairs and conservation of the synagogue were carried out.
During the conservation work carried out in the 1970s, the interior of the synagogue was reconstructed, including the bimah, the altar dressing room and the women’s rooms. The decoration of the walls and part of the bimah has been preserved in the form of polychrome boards with the texts of prayers in Hebrew and Aramaic in richly decorated borders. The oldest inscription with a fragment of the Psalm of David dates from 1662 and is above the bimah arch on the outside to the north. It has been housing a museum since 1977.
The guide to the synagogue in English can be found here, and in Polish here.
Old Jewish houses on Kozia, Kaczowska and Pilsudskiego streets behind the museum are still preserved.
Coordinates: 53.2066379, 22.7671271.
Small Synagogue (Mała synagoga), also known as the Talmudic House (zwana również Domem Talmudycznym), now a museum. Ul. Kozia, 2. Near the Maly Rynek Square and the Great Synagogue. The synagogue was built in 1772-1798. Next to the prayer hall, there were also rooms for the Talmud and the kahal school. During the Second World War, the Germans completely devastated the synagogue. After the end of the war, the synagogue building was in complete ruin for many years. Since 1977, it has been part of the museum complex together with the Great Synagogue.
Coordinates: 53.2066379, 22.7671271.
Jewish cemetery (cmentarz żydowski). On the road from Tykocin to Kiermusy, a few hundred meters from the synagogue to the west, in the block between Holendry and 27 Maja streets. It is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Poland and the oldest surviving Jewish necropolis in Podlasie. The cemetery has existed since the 16th century, when in 1522 a Jewish community was founded in Tykocin under the privilege of the chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Albrecht Hashtold.
In addition to Tykocin Jews, Jews from Bialystok were also buried here until the middle of the 18th century. The old Jewish cemetery was devastated in World War II. By order of the German occupation authorities, the cemetery wall was demolished, and the matzebot were used for road construction. Jews and Poles were executed by shooting at the cemetery during the war.
About a hundred gravestones have been preserved to this day, most of them dating back to the 19th century. The oldest of the surviving matzebot The remains of the pre-war concrete wall remained on the northern and eastern sides. About ten discovered matzebot, some of which were converted into grinding wheels, are stored in the warehouse of the local museum.
On December 29, 1989, the cemetery was included in the list of immovable monuments. The current owner of the plot is the “Fund for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Warsaw”. n 2015, thanks to a grant from the Jewish community of Warsaw, the “Jewish Cemetery Documentation Fund” conducted a study of 66 tombstones. The database with a description of the matzebot and their pictures is available at the link.
The history of this Jewish cemetery in Polish, its 1912 plan and modern pictures of individual matzebot can be found at the link, and here you can get acquainted with extracts from memories of different times in Polish.
Coordinates: 53.2046576, 22.757076.
Memorial at the site of the killing of Tykocin Jews (miejsce wymordowania Żydów z Tykocina). In the forest near the village of Łopuchowo, not far from Tykocin. Before the German occupation, the Jewish community of Tykocin had about 2,500 people. On August 25-26, 1941, the SS Sonderkommando from Białystok took to the Łopuchowo forest (about 6 km away) and killed almost the entire Jewish population of the town.
Four monuments have been erected at the site of mass murders. The first, the Polish monument of communist times, does not mention Jews. Two more were put by American Jews. The fourth was built by the efforts of local resident Awram Kapica, who miraculously survived those terrible times. This monument has a Star of David and inscriptions in Hebrew.
Memories of the tragedy of Tykocin Jews can be read in Polish at the link.
Coordinates: 53.1783522, 22.6951643.
Architectural units and other interesting places that can be seen on the way
Market square (rynek). Stary Rynek Square (plac Stary rynek). The market square existed since the foundation of Tykocin and acquired its current form in the 18th century. The center of the square is decorated with a two-meter statue of Hetman Stefan Czarnecki (1763), which is one of the oldest monuments to a secular person in Poland. The square is surrounded by historic wooden buildings and the Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity.
Coordinates: 53.2073098, 22.77193.
Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity (kościół Świętej Trójcy). Ul. 11 Listopada, 2. The parish church of the Holy Trinity in Tykocin and the missionary monastery were founded by hetman Jan Klemens Branicki. The church was built in two stages: construction began in 1742, and the towers were built in the end of 1748. The church in the late Baroque style encloses the eastern wall of the Great Market in Tykocin.
The three-nave interior of the church is decorated with wall polychromies of 1749, made by Sebastian Eckstein. The main altar in the Baroque-Rococo style appeared around 1750 and is decorated with gilding and rich ornamentation. Above the porch is a choir-balcony with an organ in the Rococo style, which was built around 1760. The church keeps the chalice used by Pope John Paul II at the mass during his pilgrimage to Łómźa in 1991.
News of the parish and schedule of services can be found at the link.
Coordinates: 53.207617, 22.774003.
Catholic cemetery of the parish of the Holy Trinity (cmentarz parafii Trójcy Przenajświętszej). Located on the eastern exit from the town between Cmentarna and 11 Listopada streets. The necropolis was founded by the priest of the Tykocin Missionary House Andrzej Cykanowski in the beginning of 1795 on the land donated by the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary. The first burial took place on February 12, 1795. Among others, priests and priors from the Congregation of Missionaries and the Order of Bernardines, who had to leave Tykocin after the uprising of 1863, are buried in this cemetery. The chapel of the Gloger family has been preserved at the necropolis.
Coordinates: 53.2049114, 22.7902944.
Bernardine monastery complex (zespół klasztorny bernardynów). Ul. Klasztorna, 4. The Bernardine monastery in Tykocin, consecrated in honor of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded in 1479 by Martin Gashtold, the governor of Kiev, and then of Troki (Trakai). In the 18th century, the waters of the Narew river damaged the monastery’s buildings and forced it to be moved to a new location.
The new monastery was founded in 1771 by hetman Jan Klemens Branicki in the southern part of Tykocin (now Klasztorna street). The buildings were erected on the site of the estate of Sigismund Augustus using some of its elements. The construction of a church was also planned, but this plan was not implemented. In its place, in the center of the courtyard, in 1861, a statue in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared.
Only in 1791, a chapel was consecrated in the eastern wing of the late Baroque monastery, and in 1837, a small church was erected in its place. In 1853, a stone two-story classical bell gate was built. In 1864, the Bernardine monastery, which at that time had 13 fathers and brothers, was liquidated by royal decree and became private property.
Now the building belongs to the episcopal curia in Łomża. In the 1970s, a Nursing Home for priests from the Łomża Diocese was established here, and in 1998, a Social Care Home for mentally ill women. Additional information in Polish and pictures can be found at the link.
Coordinates: 53.203611, 22.770833.
Veterans’ Home (zakład dla inwalidów wojennych). Ul. Poświętna, 1. It is the oldest stone building in Tykocin and the oldest state nursing home in Poland. The Veterans’ Home was built in 1633-1636 under the sponsorship of Tykocin starosta (mayor) Krzysztof Wiesiołowski. Inside there are living rooms, utility rooms and a chapel. For a long time, the building was the last refuge for old soldiers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who did not have their own home due to their service. Now the building houses a restaurant and a hotel (contacts are available in the relevant sections of the manual).
Tykocin castle (zamek w Tykocinie). Ul. Puchalskiego, 3. The castle is outside the town – on the northern bank of the Narew river. The Tykocin castle has been known since the 15th century, was expanded in 1550-1582 in the Renaissance style and rebuilt in 1611-1632 into a bastion fortress, one of the most powerful in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The castle housed the main arsenal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a library and treasury brought from Vilnius. Four earthen bastions with internal wooden reinforcing structures, connected by curtain walls, covered an area of more than 6 hectares. In 1657, the castle was partially blown up by the Swedish garrison (Henryk Sienikewicz described these events in the novel “The Deluge”). In 1705, King Augustus II the Strong founded the Order of the White Eagle in the castle – the highest award of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The existing castle is a reconstruction of the beginning of the 21st century on the foundation of the royal castle of the 16th century. During the archaeological study, traces of a defensive fortress of the 14th century were also discovered under the foundation of the castle. Now the building houses a museum, a restaurant and a hotel. The owner of the castle is a businessman from Bialystok.
Coordinates: 53.2131065, 22.7683072.
Wooden manor house (dworek drewniany). Plac Czarnieckiego, 10. The monument of wooden construction was erected in 1885. The house is under the care of the “Center for Research of the History and Culture of Townships” foundation.
Coordinates: 53.2079014, 22.7714986.
Transport
You can see the schedule of public transport from Bialystok to Tykocin and back, as well as buy tickets for the days you want here.
Food (cafés, shops)
Tykocin is a popular tourist destination, so there are many cafés and restaurants for every taste:
Tejsza
We recommend visiting the Tejsza restaurant at the former synagogue, which serves Jewish and Polish dishes.
Address: ul. Kozia, 2, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Phone: +48 85 718-77-50.
Coordinates: 53.2067255, 22.7650939.
Zamkowa
Address: ul. Puchalskiego, 3, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Phone: +48 85 718-73-72.
Link: https://zamekwtykocinie.pl/restauracja
Coordinates: 53.2131065,22.7683072.
Alumnat
Address: ul. Poswietna, 1, Podlaskie, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Phone: +48 85 718-16-49.
Link: http://alumnat.eu
Coordinates: 53.2079526, 22.7718129.
Opowiesci Z Narwi
Phone: +48 66 019-12-51.
Address: pl. Stefana Czarnieckiego, 9, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063787410327
Coordinates: 53.2068008, 22.7714858.
Karczma Rzym
Phone: +48 85 718-74-44.
Address: ul. Kiermusy, 12, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: http://kiermusy.com.pl
Coordinates: 53.204108, 22.710281.
Restaurant Villa Regent
Phone: +48 85 718-74-76.
Address: ul. Sokolowska, 3, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: https://villaregent.eu/restauracja
Coordinates: 53.2070414, 22.7658395.
Zlota Kawiarenka
Phone: +48 79 344-44-78.
Address: ul. Zlota, 11, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/zlotakawiarenka
Coordinates: 53.207351, 22.7674648.
Rest (hostels, hotels, etc.)
Przystanek Tykocin
Phone: +48 51 377-57-50.
Address: ul. Choroszczanska 25, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: https://przystanektykocin.pl
Coordinates: 53.205792, 22.773649.
Kiermusy Dworek nad Lakami
Phone: +48 50 160-75-66.
Address: ul. Kiermusy, 12, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Coordinates: 53.2041133, 22.7082207.
Alumnat Restauracja i Noclegi
Phone: +48 60 094-13-51.
Address: ul. Poswietna 1, Podlaskie, Tykocin, Województwo podlaskie, Powiat białostocki.
Link: http://alumnat.eu
Coordinates: 53.2079526, 22.7718129.
(Infrastructural information was prepared by: Victoria Lapanik, Ksenia Tereshkova)
