Attractions and Places To See around Szelków - Top 20

The longest market square in Europe, whose main function is parking. A filter that cuts out cars from souvenir photos will come in handy in your camera :)

"The history of the town hall dates back to the early 15th century. Bishop Jakub of Płock is said to have funded the seat of the town authorities in 1405. The Gothic tower added to the town hall fulfilled both judicial and penitentiary functions as well as defense. Initially, it reached a height of 15 m and was built on a rectangular plan. During the 15th and 16th centuries, it was gradually raised, with additional storeys built on an octagonal plan. A new town hall was also built - lower, more modern - in the Renaissance style, topped with a crested attic. The 30-meter tower at that time gained a domed spire with a lantern, and a clock was also ordered for it. During the wars in the 17th and 18th centuries, the town hall burned down several times. In 1728, it was rebuilt with funds from Bishop Andrzej Stanisław Kostka Załuski. The two-bay building surrounded the tower in a horseshoe shape from the east. The entrance was located on the north and covered with a wooden arcade. The tower roof was changed to an octagonal one, and the clock was abandoned. In this form, the town hall survived until the end of the 19th century. At that time, in addition to the city authorities, the army was quartered here, and there was a prison and even warehouses for Pułtusk merchants. At the end of the 19th century, a shelter was organized in the ruined building, and from 1880, the ground floor and the tower were put into use by the Volunteer Fire Department. After 1902, a new, smaller building was erected on the site of the former building, in the neo-Gothic style, only for the use of the fire department. The tower was deprived of its roof, replacing it with an uncovered platform. It turned out to be completely non-functional and the original roof covering of the tower top was quickly restored. Also at that time, a clock was placed on the north side, on the seventh floor." Source: https://arch.pultusk.pl/wieza-dawnego-ratusza-gotycko-renesansowa/

Initially, the church had a single nave, now it has three naves. The greatest changes in the church took place in the 16th century after 1546, thanks to John the Baptist of Venice, who built, among other things, a vault decorated with polychrome, a burial chapel for the founder of the reconstruction, Bishop Andrzej Noskowski (currently the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament). The Renaissance polychromes on the vault, discovered in 1994, raised the rank of the basilica as a historic monument, and the phrase Pułtusk vault entered the history of art. More at the source: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazylika_kolegiacka_Zwiastowania_Naj%C5%9Bwi%C4%99tszej_Maryi_Panny_w_Pu%C5%82tusku

The market square is located in the old part of the city, between the Basilica and the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene. Currently, the market square in Pułtusk is 400 meters long and 50 meters wide. It received a rectangular surface of these dimensions during the great expansion of the settlement in the 15th century.

In the 14th century, there was a stronghold on the castle hill, which was moved and construction began on the castle in Pułtusk, which became the seat of the bishops of Płock. The first castle buildings were wooden, at the beginning of the 15th century, brick buildings began to be built, probably after the destruction during the Lithuanian invasions. The most important expansion took place in the 6th century, when the castle was given the character of a Renaissance residence. The bishop's castle was modernized and decorated by artists, but it was destroyed during the Swedish Deluge. The castle was rebuilt at the end of the 17th century, the north-west wing was added. At that time, the castle acquired its current shape of a horseshoe - several connected buildings around the courtyard. An arcaded bridge and a gate building lead to the castle. The castle was devastated during the Napoleonic Wars, and suffered the greatest damage in 1945. Rebuilt after the war, later rebuilt for hotel purposes as the House of Polonia. Being in Pułtusk at the castle, we will definitely come across a huge and long Market Square - at one end the castle, at the other the Collegiate Basilica of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is worth walking through the old streets, visiting several old churches, and all of this is basically within the old town, on an island surrounded by branches of the Narew River. https://discover.pl/zamek-biskupi-w-pultusku/

Coffee and cake next to the town hall

A beautiful market square in a typical Polish town.

These canals are branches of the Narew River transformed into canals. Canal A is the longest of the canals that surrounds the market square and the entire old town from the rest of the city. Channel B surrounding the old town from Rybitew - part of the town located on the banks of the Narew river was built on the site of a former settlement destroyed centuries ago by a great flood and buried by landslides. Channel C partially flowing around Rybitew. Numerous (9 pcs.) bridges and footbridges connecting the old town with the rest of the city over the canals