Santok is the watchtower and the key of the kingdom.
Gallus Anonymus, Polish Chronicle (1113–1116)
I. From the diary of the museum curator…
The old Polish word „sątok” means the confluence of rivers.
In a document from 1256, signed by Przemysł I, the town was recorded under the name Santok.
The current name was administratively approved on May 7, 1946.
Santok – a commune village in the province of Lubuskie, has over 850 inhabitants. This is the so-called linear settlement, over 3 km long. It is situated at the mouth of the Noteć River to the Warta River, on a narrow terrace of the glacial valley Toruń-Eberswald. From the south, it is limited by the Warta and Noteć channels, and from the north by the high edge of the Gorzów Plain.
On the left bank of the Warta a gord has been preserved. Until 1751 (until the great flood) the river flowed around them on the right side. After the flood, it changed its channel and flows on its left side.
The oldest traces of settlement in Santok come from the second half of the 8th century. At that time, it was a temporary settlement of a merchant character.
II. Researchers and discoverers of the Santok hillfort Wilhelm Unverzagt (1892–1971) – a German prehistorian and archaeologist – and Albert Brackmann conducted the first research of the gord in 1932–1934.
Between 1958 and 1965, Dr. Zofia Hołowińska, Dr. Aleksander Dymaczewski and Dr. Urszula Dymaczewska undertook – on behalf of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Polish Academy of Sciences – the first Polish research in Santok (as part of research on the beginnings of the Polish state).
In the years 1997–1999, the Foundation of the University of Adam Mickiewicz, conducted verification and survey research under the supervision of prof. Tadeusz Makiewicz and Zbigniew Woźniak.
Dr. Kinga Zamelska-Monczak from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań has been systematically studying the gord in Santok since 2007.
III. The castellan of Santok, Paweł, at the request of Duke Bolesław Wrymouth, protected Bishop Otto of Bamberg, who led a Christianization mission in Pomerania in the years 1124–1125. Relics of St. Otto are in the church in Santok.
A prepositure functioned in the Santocki gord until 1296. Santok’s prepositure exercised ecclesiastical authority over all the churches between the Odra, Ina, Drawa, Warta and Noteć.
The Santok gord in the 12th century had an area of about 5 hectares; it consisted of an inner gord and two boroughs.
IV. Konstancja Przemysłówna brought the lands of the Castellan of Santok as a dowry to Konrad of Brandenburg from the Askan dynasty – and thus we lost them to the Brandenburgers. This was sealed by the wedding of Konstancja and Konrad, which took place in 1260 in Santok.
Joannites and Teutonic Knights in Santok. The Teutonic Knights build a watchtower on the right bank, in the place of the former Pomeranian gord. At the same time, the Knights of St. John hold office in the city.
Santok – a town with a customs house (until 1684).
On July 22, 1365, Dobrogost von der Osten and his brothers pay homage to King Casimir the Great and take possession of Drezdenko and Santok.
Michał Krzyżanowski – the last castellan of Santok (1786–1790), member of the confederation of the Great Sejm.
Did the victorious battle between Mieszko I and Wichman in 967 take place near Santok?
The observation tower, which housed the first museum in Santok, was built in 1935. During the earthworks, the remains of a Pomeranian gord from the 11th century and a Teutonic guard stronghold from the 15th century were discovered.
(From the diary of the museum curator…)
