Włocławek is a town on the Vistula River, one of the oldest in Kujawy. There is a dam on the Vistula and a dam reservoir, and a lot of historic buildings have been preserved in the city.
During the early Piast monarchy, the stronghold in Włocławek played an important role on the administrative map of the country. After the establishment of the Teutonic state, it was on the first line of defense against its expansion. It is believed that Włocławek received city rights in the first half of the 13th century, but 100 years later the devastating Teutonic invasion caused so much damage that it was necessary to re-locate it.
The city flourished most rapidly after the Toruń Peace in 1466. Due to its location on the Vistula River, it was an important stop for merchants who floated their goods down the river towards the Baltic ports. In the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous granaries and warehouses for grain and other products were built here. The period of prosperity was interrupted by fires and the Swedish invasion in the mid-17th century, after which the town never regained its former glory.
Today, monuments are a remnant of the city's glorious past. The most important of them and the main attraction is the Włocławek Cathedral from the 14th century, which houses one of the oldest stained glass windows in Poland and the tombstone of Bishop Piotr of Bnin made by Wit Stwosz. Other Gothic monuments of Włocławek include the Church of St. Witalis and the Church of St. John the Baptist.
Among the attractions of Włocławek there are also museums, such as the Diocesan Museum with a rich collection of sacred art and the Museum of Kujawska and Dobrzyń Land, which includes, among others The Ethnographic Museum, the Art Collection, the Museum of the History of Włocławek, or the exhibitions on the Włocławek faience and portraits of artists such as Mehoffer, Witkiewicz, Wyczółkowski, Malczewski and Boznańska located in the main building.
