[4] It is the cultural, academic, scientific, administrative and transportation center of the west and north Masovian region.

During the rule of the first monarchs of the Piast dynasty, even prior to the Baptism of Poland, Płock served as one of the monarchial seats, including that of Prince Mieszko I and King Bolesław I the Brave.

The king built the original fortifications on Cathedral Hill (Polish: Wzgórze Tumskie), overlooking the Vistula River.

[6] From 1079 to 1138, during the reign of the Polish monarchs Władysław I Herman and Bolesław III Wrymouth, the city was the capital of Poland, then earning its title as the Ducal Capital City of Płock (Polish: Stołeczne Książęce Miasto Płock).

[8] Among its notable graduates is scholar and jurist Paweł Włodkowic, a precursor of religious freedom in Europe, who studied there in the late 14th century.

[6] Płock was located on a trade route connecting Toruń with Warsaw, Lublin, Chełm and Włodzimierz.

[6] The first Jewish immigrants came to the city in the 14th century, responding to the extension of rights by the Polish kings.

[8] It was a seat of provincial government and an active center; its economy was closely tied to major grain trade.

[13] When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, the city of Płock was annexed into the Reich as part of the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau.

The Germans renamed the city Schröttersburg in 1941 after the former Prussian Baron of the Empire Friedrich Leopold von Schrötter.

[14] As part of the Intelligenzaktion, Germans carried out mass arrests of Poles, who were then imprisoned in the local prison, and around 200 of whom were murdered in large massacres in Łąck between October 1939 and February 1940.

[19] The Archbishop of Płock Antoni Julian Nowowiejski and the auxiliary Bishop Leon Wetmański were imprisoned in the nearby village of Słupno, and then in 1941 also murdered in the Soldau concentration camp, where also many other local priests were killed.

[20] Nowowiejski and Wetmański are now considered two of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs of World War II by the Catholic Church.

[26] Since 1943, the local Sicherheitspolizei carried out deportations of Poles including teenage boys to the Stutthof concentration camp.

[35] The city was restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s.

[36][37] Main sights include: Various Polish films were shot in Płock, including Satan from the Seventh Grade, The Scar, The Doubles [pl], Loving [pl], as well as the 1960s TV series Stawka większa niż życie.

[49] The officially protected traditional foods originating from Płock (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland) include kiełbasa tumska, a local type of kiełbasa named after Wzgórze Tumskie (Cathedral Hill),[50] and baleron płocki, a local type of baleron, a popular Polish smoked lunch meat.

[51] Płock is the oldest legislated seat of the Roman Catholic diocese; the Masovian Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral was built here in the first half of the 12th century and houses the sarcophagi of Polish monarchs.

Despite repeated attempts, they were not recognized by the Vatican and in the early 20th century established a separate and independent denomination.

[54] It varied as German migrants were arriving in the region, and the area was becoming urbanized, as more people moved to the city.

[53] In the late 19th century, Moszek Szlama Sarna (1838–1908) established two factories to produce farm machines and tools, and the first iron foundry in the city.

The Jewish community had two synagogues and two cemeteries (dating to the 15th century), religious and secular schools, and established a library and hospital.

[54] After the 1939 invasion of Poland, German Nazi persecution began, about 2,000 Jews fled the city, with half going to Soviet-controlled territory.

Ultimately, they transported the Jews to 20 camps and sites in the Radom district, where in 1942 those still alive were sent to Treblinka to be murdered.

[54] Herman Kruk, a survivor and notable chronicler of life inside the Nazi concentration camps, was born in Płock in 1897.

[56] The small synagogue, built in 1810, was one of the few to survive World War II in the Masovia region of Poland.