Olsztyn - Nicolaus Copernicus

From 1230 to 1283 the Teutonic Order conquered the entire territory of the Slavic Prussians. In 1243 the bishop of Warmia received 1/3 of the territory of his diocese for his maintenance. The town was founded in 1353 under the name of Allensteyn by the chapter of the cathedral of Warmia on its territory. At that time, the castle was already under construction.

In 1454 the town joined the Prussian Confederation against the Teutonic Order. The townspeople captured the castle and recognized the sovereignty of the Polish king, but a year later the town was reconquered by the Teutonic Order. During the war the town was in flames several times. By the peace treaty in 1466, Olsztyn and the entire Duchy of Warmia came under Polish sovereignty.

For centuries the city was an important centre of trade, crafts, science and administration in the Warmia region.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) was a canon of the prince-bishopric of Warmia as well as an astronomer and physician who also devoted himself to mathematics and cartography.

In his main work "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" of 1543, he describes a heliocentric view of the world, according to which the Earth is a planet, rotates on its own axis and also moves around the Sun like the other planets. The reception of the work led to the "Copernican turn", which in science is one of the caesuras marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

Nicolaus Copernicus resided from 1516 to 1521 in the Zamek Kapituły Warmińskiej (Olsztyn Castle).