{{Other places}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Gostyń | image_flag = | image_shield = POL Gostyń COA.svg | image_skyline = Klasztor Gostyn.jpg | image_caption = Basilica on the Holy Mountain, Głogówko | pushpin_map = Poland | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{POL}} | subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship | subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Greater Poland Voivodeship|name=Greater Poland}} | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Gostyń | subdivision_type3 = Gmina | subdivision_name3 = Gostyń | established_title = Founded | established_date = 1270s | established_title2 = Town rights | established_date2 = 1278 | area_total_km2 = 10.79 | population_as_of = 2023 | population_total = 27846 | population_density_km2 = auto | coordinates = {{coord|51|52|45|N|17|0|45|E|region:PL|display=title,inline}} | elevation_m = 90 | timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 63–800 | registration_plate = PGS | blank_name_sec2 = National road | blank_info_sec2 = 32px|link=National road 12 (Poland) | website = http://www.gostyn.pl/ }} '''Gostyń''' ({{IPAc-pl|'|g|o|s|t|y|ń}}) is a town in western Poland, seat of the Gostyń County and Gmina Gostyń in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in Leszno Voivodship).{{TERYT}} According to 31 December 2023 data its population was 27,846.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Gmina Gostyń (wielkopolskie) w liczbach » Przystępne dane statystyczne | url=https://www.polskawliczbach.pl/gmina_Gostyn | access-date=2026-03-30 | website=www.polskawliczbach.pl}}</ref>
The main landmark of Gostyń is Basilica of Święta Góra (Holy Hill), the main Marian sanctuary of the archdiocese of Poznań and a masterpiece of Pompeo Ferrari, with the monastery of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.
==Geography== The total area of Gostyń is {{convert|10.79|km²|2|abbr=out}}. The town comprises 1% of the area of the county and 8% of the commune, according to Główny Urząd Statystyczny. {{Adjacent communities|width=auto|state=expanded | Centre = Gostyń | NW = Dusina | NE = Bogusławki | E = Głogówko | SE = Podrzecze | S = Czachorowo | SW = Brzezie | W = Otówko }}
==Transport== National Road 12 used to pass through Gostyń. On Friday 12 December 2025 a new bypass opened which diverted the road to the north of the town.<ref>https://gostyn24.pl/pl/715_wybory/85647_to-byl-historyczny-moment-jak-mowili-tak-zrobili-zaczelo-sie-dokladnie-o-1212.html.</ref> National Road 12 connects Łęknica on the German border to Dorohusk-Berdyszcze on the Ukrainian border. National Road 12 intersects with major motorways and expressways, including the A18 near Żary and the A1 near Piotrków Trybunalski.
There is no railway connection to Gostyń, however local buses link it to nearby Leszno and Jarocin.
==History== [[File:AGAD Przemysł II pozwala lokować Gostyń i Brzezie na prawie niemieckim.jpg|thumb|left|A 1278 document establishing Gostyń and granting town rights, issued by Przemysł II]] Gostyń dates back to the 13th century. The town was founded by local nobleman {{interlanguage link|Mikołaj Przedpełkowic|pl|display=1}} and granted town rights in 1278<ref name=gos>{{cite web|url=https://www.gostyn.pl/Historia.html|title=Historia|website=Gostyn.pl|access-date=8 March 2020|language=pl}}</ref> by Przemysł II. It was named after the nearby village of Gostyń, which since took the name of Stary Gostyń ("Old Gostyń").<ref name=gos/> Gostyń was a private town, administratively located in the Kościan County in the Poznań Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Atlas historyczny Polski. Wielkopolska w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany|year=2017|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk|page=1a}}</ref> It developed as a local centre of trade and crafts. In the 16th century Gostyń was an important regional Reformation center,<ref name=pwn>{{cite web|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Gostyn;3906960.html|title=Gostyń|website=Encyklopedia PWN|access-date=8 March 2020|language=pl}}</ref> and in 1565 a synod of various Protestants of Greater Poland was held there.<ref name=gos/> The town suffered during the 17th-century Swedish invasions and an epidemic in the 18th century.<ref name=gos/> In the 18th century one of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dresden-warszawa.eu/pl/prolog/informacja-historyczna/|title=Informacja historyczna|website=Dresden-Warszawa|access-date=8 March 2020|language=pl}}</ref>
In 1793 Gostyń was annexed by Prussia during the Second Partition of Poland and it was known as Gostyn in German. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by the Poles and included within short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia.<ref name=pwn/> Gostyń was a center of Polish resistance to Germanisation policies.<ref name=gos/> In 1835 ''Kasyno Gostyńskie'' was founded, a significant local Polish organization, which under the disguise of social activity conducted economic, educational and library activities.<ref name=rw>{{cite web|url=https://regionwielkopolska.pl/dzieje-wielkopolski/wazniejsze-wydarzenia/kasyno-gostynskie.html|title=Kasyno gostyńskie|website=Region Wielkopolska|access-date=8 March 2020|language=pl}}</ref> The Prussians abolished the organization in 1846 and its library's collection was moved to Poznań.<ref name=rw/> Gostyń was the site of preparations for the Greater Poland uprising (1848), and during the uprising, it was captured by the Prussians in April 1848.<ref name=rw/> Many inhabitants took part in the next Greater Poland uprising (1918–19),<ref name=gos/><ref name=pwn/> after which Gostyń joined the re-established Polish state.
===World War II=== thumb|left|Monument to the victims of the 21 October 1939 execution at the Market Square During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Gostyń was captured by the Wehrmacht on 6 September 1939.<ref name=opi>{{cite web|url=https://opinie.wp.pl/czarny-legion-polska-organizacja-podziemna-rozbita-przez-niemcow-6126041043765377a?src01=f1e45|title=Czarny Legion – polska organizacja podziemna rozbita przez Niemców|website=WP Opinie|author=Wojciech Königsberg|access-date=8 March 2020|language=pl}}</ref> During the Nazi German occupation of Poland, Gostyń became the site of public executions, arrests and expulsions of Poles. First mass arrests and executions were carried out in September 1939.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|pages=95, 116}}</ref> On 21 October 1939 some 30 citizens of the town whose names were listed in the ''Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen'' (Special Prosecution Book-Poland) prepared by local German minority, were executed by an Einsatzkommando. Among the murdered were Gostyń's mayor Hipolit Niestrawski, Polish activists, officials, craftsmen and former Greater Poland insurgents.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 196</ref> It was one of many massacres of Poles committed by Germany on 20–23 October 1939 across the region in attempt to pacify and terrorize the Polish population.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grochowina|first=Sylwia|year=2017|title=Cultural policy of the Nazi occupying forces in the Reich district Gdańsk–West Prussia, the Reich district Wartheland, and the Reich district of Katowice in the years 1939–1945|location=Toruń|page=87|isbn=978-83-88693-73-1}}</ref> Mass expulsions began on 4 December 1939, with up to 2,000 Poles deported to General Government on the orders of SS-Standartenführer Ernst Damzog stationing in Poznań. Between spring of 1940 and 15 March 1941 additional 3,222 were deported.<ref name="muzeum.gostyn">{{cite web | url=http://www.muzeum.gostyn.pl/i/dg/229.pdf | title=Pierwsze wysiedlenia Gostynian do Generalnego Gubernatorstwa – 8 grudnia 1939 roku | publisher=Muzeum.Gostyn.pl | work=Expulsions of Poles | access-date=20 June 2012 | author=Robert Czub | archive-date=17 June 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617204710/https://muzeum.gostyn.pl/i/dg/229.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> {{interlanguage link|Władysław Nawrocki|pl|display=1}}, Polish officer and pre-war chairman of the local football club Kania Gostyń, was murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wlkp24.info/wspomnienie/wladyslaw-nawrocki/|title=Władysław Nawrocki|website=wlkp24.info|access-date=12 December 2020|language=pl}}</ref>
Despite such circumstances, local Poles organized an underground resistance movement, which included structures of the Polish Underground State, the secret youth organization ''Tajny Hufiec'',<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Pietrowicz|first=Aleksandra|year=2011|title=Konspiracja wielkopolska 1939–1945|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=5–6 (126–127)|pages=33, 36|issn=1641-9561}}</ref> and the ''{{Interlanguage link|Czarny Legion|pl|Czarny Legion (polska organizacja konspiracyjna)}}'' organization, which was founded in 1940.<ref name=opi/> ''Czarny Legion'' was crushed by the Germans in 1941. Several dozens of its members were arrested and then brutally tortured in a prison in Rawicz.<ref name=opi/> After a Nazi show trial in Zwickau in 1942, 12 members were executed in Dresden, and several dozen were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, where 37 of them died.<ref name=opi/> German occupation ended in 1945.
==Demographics== Data for 31 December 2003:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;" ! !Total !% !Female !% !Male !% |-- |Population |20,929 |100 |10 886 |52 |10 043 |48 |-- |employed |6 630 |32 |3 103 |15 |3 527 |17 |-- |population density<br>(persons/km<sup>2</sup>) |1939 | |990 | |913 | |}
Data for 30 June 2004: {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;" ! !colspan=2|Total !% !Female !% !Male !% |-- |population |20,746 |↓ |100 |10 798 |52 |9 948 |48 |-- |population density<br>(persons/km<sup>2</sup>) |1922 | | | | | | |}
==Culture== There is a local historical museum in Gostyń (''Muzeum w Gostyniu'') and a private car museum (''Auto-Muzeum w Gostyniu'').
==Sports== The local football club is {{interlanguage link|Kania Gostyń|pl|display=1}}. It competes in the lower leagues.
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Gostyń 042.jpg|Gothic St. Margaret's Church File:PL-Gostyn-Rynek-2.jpg|Town Hall at the Market Square (''Rynek'') File:Gostyń rynek 1.JPG|Independence monument at the Market Square File:PL-Gostyn-1-Maja.jpg|Town centre File:Gostyń 050.jpg|Holy Spirit Church and Gostyń County office File:ZUS Gostyn.jpg|ZUS office </gallery>
==Notable people== * Wojciech Długoraj (c. 1557-c. 1619), Polish Renaissance composer * Kuba Giermaziak (born 1990), Polish racing driver * Andrzej Juskowiak (born 1970), former Polish footballer, with 39 games played for the Poland national football team {{Commons category|Gostyń}} * Wojciech Kaczmarek (born 1983), Polish footballer * Sebastian Fechner (born 1983), Polish footballer * Henry J. Messing (1847–1913), German-American rabbi * Paweł Piotrowski (born 1985), Polish Paralympian athlete * Bartosz Rymaniak (born 1989), Polish footballer
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20040924033228/http://www.um.gostyn.pl/ UM.Gostyn.pl in Polish, English, and German] * [http://www.gostyn24.pl/ Gostyn at ''Gostyn24.pl''] * [http://www.wirtualnygostyn.pl/ Gostyn Virtual Tour at ''Wirtualnygostyn.pl'']
{{Gostyń County}} {{Gmina Gostyń}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Category:Gostyń County Category:13th-century establishments in Poland Category:Populated places established in the 1270s