Włocławek (Polish: [vwɔˈt͡swavɛk] ⓘ; German: Leslau or Alt Lesle,[3] Yiddish: וולאָצלאַוועק, romanized: Vlatzlavek) is a city in the Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship in central Poland along the Vistula River, bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park.

[1] Founded in the 9th century, Włocławek is located in the historical region of Kuyavia, and was its administrative center and main city in the Middle Ages.

Nowadays, Włocławek is the third largest city of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (after Bydgoszcz and Toruń) and the main cultural and economic center of eastern Kuyavia.

Traces of additional settlements dating to the Roman period and the early Middle Ages have also been excavated in the area.

In the 12th century, there was a mint and a customs chamber, where tolls were collected from ships and boats sailing on the Vistula and Zgłowiączka rivers.

[citation needed] The Treaty of Thorn, signed in 1411, resulted in short-lived peace for the city, however, it prospered from its involvement in the ransoming of the captured Teutonic Knights which was payable in three instalments and proved to be a hardship on the Prussian faction.

There is a possibility that Nicolaus Copernicus, the later renowned astronomer, may have attended the local cathedral school in the late 15th century.

[10] The city's prosperity came from river transport of grain from Kuyavia, the collection of tolls on grain floated from the more southern part of Poland to the country's main port of Gdańsk, transport of timber from the Narew, Bug and upper Vistula rivers for export to Western Europe and brewing.

[11] This is mentioned in the 1595 poem Flis, to jest Spuszczanie statków Wisłą i inszymi rzekami do niej przypadającymi by Sebastian Klonowic.

It was the site of Polish resistance during the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794, when Dionizy Mniewski [pl] sank Prussian ships with ammunition headed for besieged Warsaw.

[12][20] Rector of the local seminary Henryk Kaczorowski and two students Bronisław Kostkowski and Tadeusz Dulny are now considered three of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs of World War II by the Catholic Church.

[20] In late 1939, the SS and Selbstschutz burnt down the Grzywno district and murdered many of its inhabitants in the nearby village of Warząchewka Polska.

[24] The Germans also robbed the precious historical collections of the Diocese of Włocławek and the Baroque Franciscan monastery[13] and closed down the cathedral.

(now Blessed), Jerzy Popiełuszko, who was associated with the workers' and trade union movement Solidarity, and who was also a member of the opposition to the Communist regime in Poland, was tortured and murdered by three Security Police officers, and was thrown into the Włocławek Reservoir, close to the city.

[28] With the beginning of the German occupation of Poland, Włocławek became the first town in Europe in which Jews were required to wear distinctive yellow badges.

Next to Basilica Cathedral there is the Diocesan Museum (Polish Muzeum Diecezjalne) with paintings by Guercino, and prints by Albrecht Dürer.

It hosts two permanent exhibitions: "Włocławek`s Faience" and "The Gallery of Polish portraits" with works by Józef Simmler, Teodor Axentowicz (neoclassicism); Leon Wyczółkowski (impressionism); Jacek Malczewski and Vlastimil Hofman (symbolism), Józef Mehoffer, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Wojciech Kossak, Alfons Karpiński, Olga Boznańska (1920s and 1930s), Anthony van Dyck or Marcello Bacciarelli.

It showcases the most important elements of folk culture and equipment of house interior and farm of Kuyavia: farming, breeding, fishing, pottery, blacksmithing, cart-wrighting, cooperage, plaiting, historic folk sculpture, shrovetide customs, and musical instruments.

There are two permanent exhibitions there: religious (human and animal sculptures by Stanisław Zagajewski known as "Polish Gaudi" from group of l`art brut) and an exhibition of works by Wacław Bębnowski (ceramic sculptures and functional objects with Art Nouveau motifs, naked nymphs and elements of the Far East).

Exhibitions of Italian, German or Netherlandish art from 17th/18th centuries include: Paintings by Carlo Cignani, Georg Philipp Rugendas, Francesco de' Rossi, graphs of Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrecht Altdorfer, Heinrich Aldegrever, Parmigianino, Vespasiano Strada oder Lucas van Leyden.