The Town and district of Gabin

Town Hall, at present the seat of the Town and District Office

Wooden church in Dobrzykowo

     The town and district of Gabin are situated in southern part of the administrative district of Plock. Gabin is crossed with important communication routes, district roads that make this region easily accessible to tourists coming from Warsaw, Lodz and Plock. The area adjoins Plock districts of Slubice and Lack, communes of the district of Gostynin. while in the north it is limited with the river Vistula that makes a natural border of that region.
     Nature reserves created on clumps of trees situated on the river Vistula and unique values of natural environment attracted fishermen a Iong time ago. One can also meet tourists-ornithologists who observe rare species of plover birds and more numerous cormorants nesting at the clumps.
     This 146 km ² large district includes very interesting forest complexes. The largest one can be found northwards the town of Gabin, in the range of Gorki. It has very favourable conditions for recreation. Moreover, the vicinity of lake Zdworskie and Ciechomickie, as well as still-developing tourist base (two hotels in the district and agritourist farms) make resting in that region peaceful and quiet.
     The history of Gabin is a very interesting one.Tourists can acquaint themselves with i twhile visiting Slawoj Skladkowski Social Museum of the District of Gabin. It plays a very important role in the town's and the district's cultural life. Here, exhibitions devoted to important events and people of the district and our fatherland take place periodically. There are also permanent exhibitions, such as: unique and very rich collections devoted to the museum's patron. Gabin is a smalI town situated upon the river of Nida, with 4.200 inhabitants. The town was first mentioned in 1215. Possibly, the town rights were granted to the site in 1322 and confirmed in 1437 by Prince Ziemowit V. The town had its best days in the 16 th c., when it became famous of its broadcloth called "multan". The rise of the town was broken with the wars with Sweden, when Gabin was destroyed. Second rise of the town resulted from bringing German Colonists (weavers and cloth-sellers) to the town by the Government of the Polish Kingdom. Tragic epidemics in 1894 and 1897 together with destruction of the town in 1939 stopped the town's development. During the Second World War, under the authority of the Nazi occupant a part of the town was changed into a ghetto for Jewish people and 2.500 persons (i.e. one third of the population of Gabin) were killed. Liberation from the Nazi occupation took place on the 18 th of January 1945. Gabin was the place of birth of such famous Poles as: Otto Korwin Wierzbicki (historian), Kazimierz Lasocki (painter), and general Felicjan Slawoj Skladkowski (the last Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic).
     The history of the town is documented with interesting objects: the classicist Town Hall, brick, dated 1824, constructed in the place of the previous town hall from the 18 th c., burnt in 1808, the tenement house in which Feliks Slawoj Skladkowski was born, 1809.
     The villages in our district also have a very rich history, written in numerous monuments. The most distinctive ones are: wooden church in Troszyn Polski, 1636, wooden church in Dobrzykowo, 1775, mansion house in Koszelewo, 19 th c., Protestant church in Nowy Troszyn.
     In the region ot the town and district one can also find: nature reserves such as: "Kepa Wykowska" and "Lawice Troszynskie" a partial reserve, where breeding refuges of very rare species of birds (seagulls, terns, plovers) are protected, monuments of nature: a form of specific protection; in the town and district of Gabin there are 8 such monuments, i.e. separate trees: ash-tree, common oak, and small-Ieave lime, protected landscape areas: the area of Gostynin and Gabin, total area of 22.520 ha, including the valley of the river Vistula and and joining the Gostynin and Wlocławek Landscape Park in the east.
     Northern part of the district found it self in structures of European ecological networks ECONET-POl.AND. The area adjoining the Vistula's valley was included into the international ecological node: the area of the Kampinos Primeval Forest.
     The district has very good conditions for development of tourism and recreation. Forests cover 18,22% of the area. They create the possibility for development of: sightseeing (routes, tourist tracks, horse-and bicycle-riding tracks), and agritourism.
     The three tourist tracks which cross the district are: track no. 3 /green marks/ named after King Casimir the Great. The track is especially marked for tourists and it is situated in two districts: Mazovian and the District of Kujawy and Pomerania, with the end in Wlocławek. Track no. 5 /black marks/ named after Andrzej Malkowski. The track goes southwards, then it crosses the Plock Basin and continues till it reaches the Kutno Plain. The track connects the Vistula with two lakes: Ciechomickie and Gorskie, as well as lakes Zdworskie and Lackie. Track no. 2 /yellow marks/ the main track of Plock Basin. At the track one can find various forest stands and complexes, monuments and reserves of nature, wooden and brick monuments, picturesque lakes under environmental protection and those prepared for recreation, postglacial landscapes, places of national remembrance, bunkers, as well as trenches made during the World War ll.
     Very interesting archaeological stands are the unquestionable attraction of the region. They can be found, for example, in Troszczyn and Gabin, where nearly every year there are some excavations made by such institutions as the University in Warsaw. Vast forest complexes, immediate neigh bourhood of lakes and the Vistula's valley with nature reserves, as well as cultural richness, numerous monuments and old settlements make our commune very attractive for tourists who are willing to visit it.

We heartily invite you to visit our commune !