Peter of Dusburg wrote of a settlement known as Tapiow, first documented in 1254, and the neighboring fort Surgurbi built by 1265.[2] The Old Prussian names were derived from the words tape, teplu, toplu, tapi, meaning 'warm', and sur garbis, meaning 'around the mountain'. During the 13th century Prussian Crusade, the area was conquered by the Teutonic Knights. To protect Samland from the Nadruvians and Scalvians, the crusaders built a wooden fort between the Deime and Pregel Rivers in 1283–1290. This was replaced by Tapiau Castle, a stone Ordensburg, in 1351.
The settlement gradually became known by the German crusaders as Tapiau. Vytautas, the later Grand Duke of Lithuania, was baptized in Tapiau in 1385. Upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation in 1454 Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region and town to the Kingdom of Poland[11] and the Thirteen Years' War broke out. After the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the war, in 1466, the town became part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights.[12] After the transfer of the Grand Master's seat from MalborktoKönigsberg, Tapiau became the site of the Order's archives and library from 1469 to 1722.
In August 1939, the Germans imprisoned the principal, teachers, other staff and 162 students of the Polish gymnasiuminKwidzyn in the town.[13] They were held in the former psychiatric hospital. In September 1939, during the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, it was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp for Polish POWs, and Polish teachers and youth were deported elsewhere.[14] A Nazi prison for women was operated in the town.[15]
Unlike most other towns in northern East Prussia, Tapiau was largely undamaged during World War II. Following the war's end in 1945, it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed Gvardeysk ('guard town') in 1946.[16] The town's German population of more than 9,000 either fled or were killed during the war, and those remaining after the war were expelled and gradually replaced by Soviet residents.
Within the framework of municipal divisions, since June 11, 2014, the territories of the town of district significance of Gvardeysk and of four rural okrugs of Gvardeysky District are incorporated as Gvardeysky Urban Okrug.[4] Before that, the town of district significance was incorporated within Gvardeysky Municipal District as Gvardeyskoye Urban Settlement.[4]
The coat of arms of Gvardeysk depicts a bare hand holding a sword amongst clouds, beneath a golden sun. When the town was known as Tapiau before 1946, the golden sun also included the Tetragrammaton (Jehova-Sonne).[18]
Sights of Gvardeysk include a church from 1502 and the ruined Tapiau Castle, reconstructed into an orphanage in 1879. It has been used as a prison since 1945.
Tapiau's most famous resident was the German Impressionist painter Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), who donated the painting Golgatha for the altar of the town's church in 1910; the painting disappeared near the end of World War II. The house where Corinth was born still stands in Gvardeysk. Other notable people associated with the town include Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490–1568), who died in Tapiau.
^Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XII (in Polish). Warszawa. 1892. p. 156.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Karol Górski, Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych, Instytut Zachodni, Poznań, 1949, p. XXXVII, 54 (in Polish)
^Cygański, Mirosław (1984). "Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945". Przegląd Zachodni (in Polish) (4): 41.
Калининградская областная Дума. Закон №463 от 27 мая 2010 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Калининградской области», в ред. Закона №450 от 3 июля 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Калининградской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Калининградской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован:『Калининградская правда』(вкладыш "Ведомости Правительства Калининградской области"), №112, 26 июня 2010 г. (Kaliningrad Oblast Duma. Law #463 of May 27, 2010 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Kaliningrad Oblast, as amended by the Law #450 of July 3, 2015 On Amending the Law of Kaliningrad Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Kaliningrad Oblast". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Правительство Калининградской области. Постановление №640 от 30 августа 2011 г. «Об утверждении реестра объектов административно-территориального деления Калининградской области», в ред. Постановления №877 от 21 ноября 2011 г «О внесении изменения в Постановление Правительства Калининградской области от 30 августа 2011 г. №640». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован:『Калининградская правда』(вкладыш "Официально"), №170, 15 сентября 2011 г. (Government of Kaliningrad Oblast. Resolution #640 of August 30, 2011 On the Adoption of the Registry of the Objects of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of Kaliningrad Oblast, as amended by the Resolution #877 of November 21, 2011 On Amending the Resolution of the Government of Kaliningrad Oblast #640 of August 30, 2011. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Калининградская областная Дума. Закон №319 от 10 июня 2014 г. «Об объединении поселений, входящих в состав муниципального образования "Гвардейский район", и организации местного самоуправления на объединённой территории». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован:『Калининградская правда』(вкладыш "Официальный вестник Правительства Калининградской области"), №103, 11 июня 2014 г. (Kaliningrad Oblast Duma. Law #319 of June 10, 2014 On the Merger of the Settlements Within the Municipal Formation of "Gvardeysky District" and on the Organization of the Local Self-Government on the Merged Territories. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Hupp, Otto (1898) [1896]. Königreich Preußen: Wappen der Städte. Flecken und Dörfer (in German). Frankfurt: Verlag von Heinrich Keller. p. 185.
Oesterley, Hermann (1883). Historisch-geographisches Wörterbuch des deutschen Mittelalters (in German). Gotha: Justus Perthus. p. 805.
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Media related to Gvardeisk at Wikimedia Commons
