Pisz

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Pisz

	(Coat of arms)

Basic Information
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Warmian-Masurian
Population	19 371 (2004)
Founded	1367
City rights	1645
Latitude Longitude	53°37’N 21°48'E
Area	10,04 km²
Density	1925,1/km²
Area code	+48 87
Car plates	NPI
Economy and Traffic
Administration
Mayor	Andrzej Szymborski
Municipal Website

Pisz Town Hall

Pisz (until 1946 German: Johannisburg, Polish: Jańsbork) is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. With a population of 19,328 (2004), it is the seat of Pisz County. Pisz is located at the junction of Lake Roś and the Pisa River.

[edit] History

The site of today's Pisz was originally inhabited by the Old Prussians. In 1345 the Teutonic Order began constructing a castle nearby at the southermost point of the Piska Forest in the Masurian Lakeland. The castle was named Johannisburg, after St. John the Baptist. The settlement nearby held a market as early as 1367, but it was not until 1645 that it received its town charter. The official German name of the town was Johannisburg, while the Polish-speaking residents referred to it as Jańsbork. Its early growth owed much to the residents' skill in beekeeping, and it was located on trade routes leading to Gdańsk and to the Vistula and Narew Rivers. It became part of Ducal Prussia in 1525 and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1618.

The town began to develop extensively in the 19th century as part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1818 it became the seat of the Landkreis Johannisburg in the province East Prussia. The town's population in 1876 was approximately 3,000. A railway built connecting Allenstein (Olsztyn) and Lyck (Ełk) ran through Johannisburg. Its water supply system and gas works were built in 1907 and its municipal slaughterhouse in 1913. The town's industrial development focused on wood processing and metallurgy. According to the 1900 Imperial German census, Johannisburg's population consisted of 70.2% Masurians.

During World War II, Johannisburg was 70% destroyed by fighting and occupation by the Soviet Red Army. At war's end in 1945, it was transferred from German to Polish control and officially renamed Pisz in 1946. The name Pisz comes from the Prussian word pisa ("swamp"), owing to the muddy water from nearby Lake Roś. The remaining German-speaking part of the town's populace was expelled and replaced with Poles.

Little of pre-war Johannisburg survived the warfare aside from its Gothic town hall, but much of Pisz has been restored in recent decades. The town is a popular place to begin sailing on the Masurian lakes. Historical sites include the ruins of the Teutonic Knights' Johannisburg castle and the Church of St. John.