Mikołajki () is a resort town in Mrągowo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in north-eastern Poland, 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 and in Germany, when Warmia-Masuria was under German rule and ...

, the largest lake of both the

Masurian Lake District The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lake Land () is a lake district in northeastern Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpath ...

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

Masuria Masuria ( ; ; ) is an 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 Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...

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 Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

(''Mikołaj'' in Polish). Early on, it was part of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

. In 1454 Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

incorporated the region to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, and the Thirteen Years' War broke out. After the war ended in 1466 it was part of Poland, as a

fiefdom A fief (; ) 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 feudal alle ...

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

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until t ...

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

, it was mainly inhabited by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, hailing from nearby

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

. In 1539 the inhabitants of the settlement were almost entirely , Poles, 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 (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

, 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 East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. From 1871 it was part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

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

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

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 was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

the 1920 East Prussian plebiscite was organized on 11 July 1920 under the control of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) 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 (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

soldiers in accordance to the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. 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. The town's location on attractive lakes has also created the sailing capital of Poland here.

Climate

Mikołajki has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''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 cold ...

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

Sports

Since 2005, the Rally of Poland has been based in Mikołajki. The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is Kłobuk Mikołajki. It competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

File:Mikołajki 02.jpg, The view of Mikołajki from Mikołajskie Lake (Jezioro Mikołajskie) File:Mikolajki jezioro mikolajskie.jpg, The view of Mikołajskie Lake (Jezioro Mikołajskie) File:POL Mikolajki 13.jpg, The view of Mikołajki from the marina. File:Mikołajki, Poland - panoramio (3).jpg, Skyline of Mikołajki File:POL Mikolajki 02.jpg,

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

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 (, literally ''Villard of Lans''; ) 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 ep ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Varėna Varėna () is a city in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania. It is the capital of the district of Varėna. Currently, there are 7,794 residents. The Varėna district is the largest and most forested municipality of Lithuania as more than 50% of the di ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

References

External links

Mikołajki
at Phorum website * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Mrągowo County Masuria (region) Populated lakeshore places in Poland