Send Gift Baskets to Suwalki, Poland

Yotvingian and Prussian tribes once inhabited it during the early Middle Ages. Yotvingia was conquered by the Teutonic Order and remained largely depopulated in the centuries that followed.

In 1667, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, John II Casimir, granted the Camaldolese monks the area surrounding the future town. A monastery and church were built in Wigry soon after the monastic order established its headquarters.

New owners began rapid economic exploitation and development of the forests; they brought enough settlers (mainly from overpopulated Masovia) to build several new villages. Aside from wood, lumber, and tar, iron ore was also produced. Only two houses were reported in the town two years later, first mentioned in 1688.

However, the village overgrew; by 1700, it was divided into smaller and larger Suwałki. Located near the center of Camaldolese estates, the town was on the main trade route connecting Grodno and Merkinė with Königsberg.

A privilege to organize fairs and markets was granted to the village in 1710 by King Augustus II the Strong. Ildefons, the grand master of the order, gave town rights to the village five years later. Its inhabitants were granted civil rights and exempted from taxes for seven years after dividing the town into 300 lots for future houses. A forest of 18.03 km2 (6.96 sq mi) was also allotted to the city to be turned into arable land. It was approved by King August II on May 2, 1720, that the town could hold one fair a week and four markets a year. A coat of arms depicting Saint Roch and Saint Romuald was also approved.

Prussia annexed it after Poland was divided in 1795. As a result of the Prussian government’s confiscation of the monastery’s property, Wigry was dissolved in 1796. The following year a seat of local powiat authorities was moAs a result of the Prussian government’s confiscation of the monastery’s property, Wigry was dissolved in 1796nhabitants, and 216 houses. A large part of the population was Jewish.