Gostynin

Gostynin grew near the Skrwa Lewa on the border between Mazovia and Kuyavia. Its early stronghold changed hands in the struggles of the Masovian dukes, and in the fourteenth century a castle and a new settlement with a market square and new parish church arose by the river. Duke Siemowit IV granted Gostynin town rights in 1382, making it a centre of the surrounding district.

The castle later held an extraordinary prisoner. Vasili Shuisky, the deposed tsar of Russia, was brought to Poland during the Time of Troubles and died in captivity at Gostynin in 1612. War and destruction later damaged the town and castle. In the nineteenth century the ruins were adapted as a Protestant church as Gostynin began to recover.