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Introducing Tykocin
Like so many of the region’s sleepy towns, Tykocin’s (ti-ko-cheen) importance lies in its past. It started life as a stronghold of the Mazovian dukes, but its real growth didn’t begin until the 15th century and was further accelerated after the town became the property of King Zygmunt II August in 1543. It was during this period that Jews started to settle in Tykocin, their community growing rapidly to define the town’s character for the next four centuries. They also built the town’s greatest monument, a 17th-century synagogue that miraculously survived WWII.
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By the end of the 18th century Tykocin’s fortunes had changed and the town gradually slid into decline. During WWII it lost all its Jews – half of the town’s population – and then in 1950 it was deprived of its town charter, to become an ordinary village. It recovered its charter in 1994, but otherwise nothing has changed; only a few historic buildings survive as evidence of the town’s illustrious past.
Last updated: Oct 3, 2008
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