It is located on the Gołdapa River, between the Szeskie Hills, Gołdap Lake and the Puszcza Romincka forest.

Its coat of arms depicts the House of Hohenzollern and Brandenburg, while the letter "S" stands for Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland, who was the suzerain of the region.

[1] In 1656, during the Polish-Swedish War, Polish troops under command of Dymitr Jerzy Wiśniowiecki were stationed in Gołdap.

The deceased were replaced by Germans from Brandenburg, Pomerania, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, the Electorate of the Palatinate, and Nassau, as well as Swiss and Lithuanians.

[4] In 1863, Poles smuggled weapons through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland to support the January Uprising.

During World War II Goldap was planned by the German staff as one of the strongholds guarding the rest of East Prussia from the Red Army on the Eastern Front.

As a result of heavy fighting for the city and the regions directly east of it, in August and September 1944, 90% of the town was yet again destroyed.

According to German war-time reports, about 50 civilians were murdered (some raped) by the Red Army on its initial entry into Goldap in October 1944.

After German surrender, the Soviets ceremoniously transferred sovereignty over the town to Polish authorities on June 10, 1945.