Grodzisk

Grodzisk Wielkopolski grew from a fortified settlement on the Letnica. First recorded in 1257 as a Cistercian village, it had become a town by 1303 and later belonged to the noble Ostroróg and Opaliński families. Brewing became one of its distinctive trades, with the town lending its name to a local style of beer.

The Reformation left a strong mark on Grodzisk. In 1563 the Lutheran Stanisław Ostroróg gave its church to Protestants and founded a school; the town became an important printing centre for the Polish Reformation. His Catholic successor Jan Ostroróg restored Catholic worship in 1594. Prussia annexed Grodzisk in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. It became an important centre of the Kościuszko Uprising the following year, and later briefly belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw.