Włocławek

Włocławek stands on the Vistula in the historic lands of Kuyavia. An early Piast stronghold, it became an administrative center and a bishop's seat in the twelfth century. Ships passing along the Vistula and the Zgłowiączka paid tolls here, and a mint served the town. Its Gothic cathedral and ecclesiastical institutions reflect the long importance of the bishopric. The Teutonic Knights repeatedly attacked the town during the wars of the fourteenth century. The cathedral was rebuilt after destruction, and Włocławek continued as a center of the bishop's lands and river commerce. Its location joined the interior of Poland to the Vistula route leading toward the Baltic.