Mikołajki () is a resort town in

Mrągowo County __NOTOC__ Mrągowo County ( pl, powiat mrągowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local gover ...

in the

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an ar ...

in north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, with 3,852 inhabitants as of 2017. The town is located near the

Śniardwy Śniardwy () is a lake in the Masurian Lake District of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. At , Śniardwy is the largest lake in Poland. It was also the largest lake in Prussia, when Warmia-Masuria was under German rule. It is long and w ...

, the largest lake of both the

Masurian Lake District The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lakeland ( pl, Pojezierze Mazurskie; german: Masurische Seenplatte) is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria, in the past inhabited by Masurians who spoke the Masu ...

and Poland. It is located in the center of the ethnocultural region of

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

History

Mikołajki is an old

n church town first documented as Nickelsdorf (Sankt Niklas) in 1444 and Niklasdorf in 1493. The name refers to Saint Nicholas (''Mikołaj'' in Polish). Early on, it was part of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Cent ...

. In 1454 Polish King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the m ...

incorporated the region to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

upon the request of the anti-Teutonic

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia (region), Prussi ...

, and the Thirteen Years' War broke out. After the war ended in 1466 it was part of Poland, as a

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

held by the Teutonic Knights and, from 1525 on, the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

, founded as a vassal state of Poland. Similar to all of

, it was mainly inhabited by

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

, hailing from nearby

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

. In 1539 the inhabitants of the settlement were almost entirely

,''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Tom VI, Warszawa, 1885, p. 400 (in Polish) who called it by its Polish name ''Mikołajki''. First Protestant pastors were mentioned in 1552. The settlement, now within the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

, grew during the 18th century, receiving its

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

as Nikolaiken in 1726. Because of its location on

, the fishery of Nikolaiken ensured continued prosperity; the whitefish of the region were especially popular throughout the province of East Prussia. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire, located within the Sensburg district (''Landkreis Sensburg'') within the province of East Prussia. However, in 1877, the population was still predominantly Polish, mostly of Protestant confession. In the

1898 German federal election Elections in Germany#German elections from 1871 to 1945, Federal elections were held in German Empire, Germany on 16 June 1898.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p762 Despite the Social Democratic Part ...

, the Polish candidate of the Masurian People's Party, Zenon Eugeniusz Lewandowski, who originated from

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

and was supported by the German Free-minded People's Party, received 50% of votes in Mikolajki. As a result of the

treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

the

1920 East Prussian plebiscite The East Prussian plebiscite (german: Abstimmung in Ostpreußen), also known as the Allenstein and Marienwerder plebiscite or Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle plebiscite ( pl, Plebiscyt na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu), was a plebiscite organised in a ...

was organized on 11 July 1920 under the control of the

League of nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

, which resulted in 1,800 votes to remain in Germany and none for Poland. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

it was one of the few Masurian towns not destroyed from the fighting, following the war it became again part of Poland under its Polish name ''Mikołajki''. The German-speaking population was evacuated and expelled by Polish and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

soldiers in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement. The town was a growing tourist center before the war, and is now one of the largest tourist sights in Masuria. The ice sailing in winter is an especially popular attraction.

Climate

Mikołajki has an oceanic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfb'') using the isotherm or a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(Köppen climate classification: ''Dfb'') using the isotherm.

Sports

Since 2005, the Rally of Poland has been based in Mikołajki. The local football team is Kłobuk Mikołajki. It competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

File:Mikołajki 02.jpg File:Mikolajki jezioro mikolajskie.jpg File:POL Mikolajki 13.jpg File:Gmina Mikołajki, Poland - panoramio (3).jpg, Skyline of Mikołajki File:POL Mikolajki 02.jpg,

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Holy Trinity church File:Mikołajki - pl. Wolności 6 (02).jpg, Freedom Square (''Plac Wolności'')

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Mikołajki is twinned with: *

Villard-de-Lans Villard-de-Lans (; oc, Lo Vilar de Lanç) is a commune in the Isère department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. The town is also situated in the Vercors Massif. It was the administrative centre of the eponymous ca ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Varėna Varėna (; pl, Orany; yi, אוראַן ''Oran'') is a city in Dzūkija, Lithuania. History The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settleme ...

, Lithuania

References

External links

Mikołajki
at Phorum website * Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Mrągowo County {{Mrągowo-geo-stub