Gvardeysk (Russian: Гвардейск, IPA: [ɡvɐrˈdʲejsk] ⓘ; known prior to 1946 by its German name Tapiau ⓘ; Lithuanian: Tepliava; Polish: Tapiawa/Tapiewo), is a town and the administrative center of Gvardeysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River 38 kilometers (24 mi) east of Kaliningrad.

To protect Samland from the Nadruvians and Scalvians, the crusaders built a wooden fort between the Deime and Pregel Rivers in 1283–1290.

Upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation in 1454 Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region and town to the Kingdom of Poland[11] and the Thirteen Years' War broke out.

[12] After the transfer of the Grand Master's seat from Malbork to Königsberg, Tapiau became the site of the Order's archives and library from 1469 to 1722.

[citation needed] It became a part of the newly established Prussian Province of East Prussia in 1773 and was administered in Landkreis Wehlau (1818–1945).

In August 1939, the Germans imprisoned the principal, teachers, other staff and 162 students of the Polish gymnasium in Kwidzyn in the town.

[4] The coat of arms of Gvardeysk depicts a bare hand holding a sword amongst clouds, beneath a golden sun.