Editing Sopot (section)

== History ==
=== Early history ===
[[File:Sopot Grodzisko (1).JPG|thumb|left|[[Grodzisko in Sopot]]]]
The area of today's Sopot contains the site of a 7th-century Slavonic (Pomeranian) stronghold. Initially it was a commercial trade outpost for commerce extending both up the [[Vistula]] river and to cities north across the [[Baltic Sea]]. With time the significance of the stronghold diminished and by the 10th century it was reduced to a fishing village, eventually abandoned. However, a century later the area was settled again and two villages were founded within the borders of today's city: Stawowie and Gręzowo. They were first mentioned in 1186 as being granted to the [[Cistercian]] [[Oliwa Abbey|abbey]] in [[Oliwa]]. Another of the villages that constitute today's Sopot, Świemirowo, was first mentioned in 1212 in a document by [[Mestwin I]], who granted it to the [[Premonstratensian]] (Norbertine) monastery in nearby Żukowo.

The village of Sopot, which later became the namesake for the whole city, was first mentioned in 1283 when it was granted to the Cistercians. At that time it was part of [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Poland]] until the 14th-century [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic]] invasion. By 1316, the abbey had bought all villages in the area and became the owners of all the area of the city. After the [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)]] the area was reincorporated into the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]].

=== Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ===
[[File:Sopot, dwór hiszpański.jpg|thumb|left|''Spanish Manor'' (''Dwór Hiszpański''), one of the 18th-century manors of the Przebendowski family]]
The spa for the citizens of [[Gdańsk]] has been active since the 16th century. Until the end of that century most noble and [[magnate]] families from Gdańsk built their [[manor house]]s in Sopot. During the negotiations of the [[Treaty of Oliva]] King [[John II Casimir of Poland]] and his wife Queen [[Marie Louise Gonzaga]] lived in one of them, while [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] negotiator [[Magnus de la Gardie]] resided in another&nbsp;— it has been known as the ''Swedish Manor'' (''Dwór Szwedzki'') ever since.<ref name=his>{{cite web|url=https://miasto.sopot.pl/strona/historia_miasta|title=Historia miasta|website=Sopot.pl|access-date=11 February 2020|language=pl|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127003153/https://www.miasto.sopot.pl/strona/historia_miasta|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Swedish Manor was later the place of stay of Polish Kings [[Augustus II the Strong]] (in 1710) and [[Stanisław Leszczyński]] (in 1733).<ref name=hm1>{{cite web|url=https://histmag.org/Historia-Sopotu.-Czesc-I-od-sredniowiecza-do-wybuchu-I-wojny-swiatowej-2528|title=Historia Sopotu. Część I: od średniowiecza do wybuchu I wojny światowej|website=Histmag.pl|author=Piotr Pelczar|access-date=11 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref>

During the 1733 [[War of the Polish Succession]], [[Stanisław Leszczyński]] stayed in Sopot a few days before going to the nearby city of Gdańsk.<ref name=his/> Afterwards [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russian]] troops [[siege|besieged]] Gdańsk and a year later looted and burned the village of Sopot to the ground.<ref name=his/> Much of Sopot would remain abandoned during and in the following years after the conflict, as the [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patricians]] of Gdańsk, exhausted by the war, could not afford to rebuild the Sopot residences.<ref name=hm1/>

In the 1750s, [[szlachta|Polish nobility]] of [[Pomerania]] began to rebuild the village.<ref name=hm1/> In 1757 and 1758 most of the ruined manors were bought by the [[Magnates of Poland and Lithuania|magnate]] family of Przebendowski. General [[Józef Przebendowski]] bought nine of these palaces and in 1786 his widow, Bernardyna Przebendowska (née [[von Kleist]]), bought the remaining two. Also the Sierakowski family acquired some properties, including the destroyed Swedish Manor.<ref name=hm1/> After the [[Partitions of Poland]], in the 1790s, Count {{interlanguage link|Kajetan Onufry Sierakowski|pl|display=1}} built the Sierakowski Mansion at the site of the Swedish Manor, a typical [[Manor houses of Polish nobility|Polish manor house]], which remains one of the most distinctive buildings of pre-spa Sopot.<ref name=hisarch/>

=== Kingdom of Prussia ===
[[File:Sopot, dworek Sierakowskich.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dworek Sierakowskich|Sierakowski Mansion]], a late 18th-century [[Manor houses of Polish nobility|Polish manor house]]]]
Sopot was annexed by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1772 in the [[First Partition of Poland]]. Following the new laws imposed by King [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick the Great]], church property was confiscated by the state. The village was still being reconstructed and in 1806 the area was sold to the Danzig/Gdańsk merchant Carl Christoph Wegner. However, until 1819 it did not develop significantly, its population in 1819 was 350,<ref name=his/> compared to 301 in the year of Prussian annexation.<ref name=hisarch/>

[[File:Statue of Jean Georg Haffner in Sopot.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Jean Georg Haffner]]]]
In 1819, Wegner opened the first public bath in Zoppot and tried to promote the newly established spa among the inhabitants of [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] (Gdańsk), but the undertaking was a financial failure. However, in 1823 [[Jean Georg Haffner]], a former medic of the [[France|French]] army, financed a new bath complex that gained significant popularity. In the following years, Haffner erected more facilities. By 1824, a [[sanatorium]] was opened to the public, as well as a 63-metre [[pier]], cloakrooms, and a park. Haffner died in 1830, but his enterprise was continued by his stepson, Ernst Adolf Böttcher. The latter continued to develop the area and in 1842 opened a new [[theatre]] and sanatorium. By then the number of tourists coming to Zoppot every year had risen to almost 1,200.

In 1870 Zoppot saw the opening of its first rail line: the new Danzig-[[Kołobrzeg]] (then ''Kolberg'') [[rail road]] that was later extended to [[Berlin]]. Good rail connections added to the popularity of the area and by 1900 the number of tourists had reached almost 12,500 a year.
[[File:Sopot-Parkowa5-B.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Church of the Saviour]]
In 1873, the village of Zoppot became an [[administrative centre]] of the [[States of Germany#Subdivisions|Gemeinde]]. Soon other villages were incorporated into it and in 1874 the number of inhabitants of the village rose to over 2,800. In 1877, the self-government of the Gemeinde bought the village from the descendants of Haffner and started its further development. A second sanatorium was constructed in 1881 and the pier was extended to 85 metres. In 1885, the gas works were built. Two years later, [[tennis court]]s were built and the following year a horse-racing track was opened to the public. There were also several facilities built for the permanent inhabitants of Zoppot, not only for the tourists. Among those were two new churches: [[Protestantism|Protestant]] (September 17, 1901) and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] (December 21, 1901). From the late 19th century, there was a significant influx of [[Germans|German]] settlers with the slow growth of the [[Polish people|Polish]] population, resulting in a change in ethnic proportions in favor of the former.<ref name=hm1/>

[[File:Zoppot Kurgarten 1900.jpg|thumb|Late 19th-century view of the [[Pier in Sopot|Sopot Pier]]]]
Since the late 19th century the city became a holiday resort for the inhabitants of nearby Danzig, as well as wealthy aristocrats from Berlin, [[Warsaw]], and [[Königsberg]]. Poles visited the city in large numbers and the spa was very popular among the Polish intellectual elite, to the extent that the early 20th-century Polish writer {{interlanguage link|Adolf Nowaczyński|pl|display=1}} named it "the extension of Warsaw to the Baltic Sea".<ref name=hm1/> Germans and Russians also visited the city.<ref name=hm1/> At the beginning of the 20th century it was a favourite spa of Emperor [[Wilhelm II of Germany]].

[[File:Dwor karlikowski1736.jpg|thumb|Karlikowo Manor, place of stay of King [[John II Casimir of Poland]] in 1660, before demolition by the Germans in 1910]]
On October 8, 1901, Wilhelm II granted Zoppot [[city rights]], spurring further rapid growth. In 1904 a new [[balneology|balneological]] sanatorium was opened, followed in 1903 by a [[Sopot Lighthouse|lighthouse]]. In 1907, new baths south of the old ones were built in [[Vikings|Viking]] style. In 1909 a new theatre was opened in the nearby forest within the city limits, in the place where today the [[Sopot Festival]] is held every year. By 1912, a third complex of baths, sanatoria, hotels, and restaurants was opened, attracting even more tourists. Shortly before [[World War I]] the city had 17,400 permanent inhabitants and over 20,000 tourists every year.

=== Free City of Danzig ===
Following the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, Zoppot became a part of the [[Free City of Danzig]] in [[customs union]] with the re-established [[Second Polish Republic|Polish Republic]]. Due to the proximity of the [[Second Polish Republic|Polish]] and [[Germany|German]] borders, the economy of the town soon recovered. The new [[casino]] became one of the main sources of income of the free-city state. In 1927, the city authorities rebuilt the Kasino-Hotel, one of the most notable landmarks in Sopot today. After [[World War II]], it was renamed as the [[Grand Hotel (Sopot)|Grand Hotel]] and continues to be one of the most luxurious hotels in Poland.

A [[Richard Wagner]] festival was held in the nearby [[Opera Lesna|Forest Opera]] in 1922. The festival's success caused Zoppot to be sometimes referred to as the "[[Bayreuth Festival|Bayreuth]] of the North". As a result of the influx of Germans in the previous decades, who took over the most important functions in the city, some Poles became [[Germanisation|Germanized]], however a significant indigenous Polish community was still present in the city, and there was also a Jewish community.<ref name=hm2/> In 1928, the [[Pier in Sopot|pier]] was extended to its present length of 512 metres. Since then it has remained the longest wooden pier in Europe and one of the longest in the world. In 1928, the city was visited by 29,192 visitors, mostly Poles<ref name=hm2>{{cite web|url=https://histmag.org/Historia-Sopotu.-Czesc-II-lata-1914-1945-3491|title=Historia Sopotu. Część II: lata 1914-1945|website=Histmag.pl|author=Piotr Pelczar|access-date=11 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref> and in the early 1930s it reached the peak of its popularity among foreign tourists&nbsp;— more than 30,000 annually (this number does not include tourists from Danzig itself). However, by the 1930s, tensions on the nearby Polish-German border and the rising popularity of [[Nazism]] in [[Germany]] and also among local Germans saw a decline in foreign tourism. The [[Nazi Party]], supported by many local Germans, took power in the city.<ref name=hm2/> Local Poles and Jews were discriminated against<ref name=hm2/> and in 1938 local German Nazis burned down Zoppot's [[synagogue]].<ref name=his/>

=== World War II (1939–1945) ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-51909-0003, Polen, Schlagbaum, deutsche Soldaten.jpg|thumb|German soldiers and custom officials reenact the removal of the Polish border crossing in Sopot in September 1939 for the purposes of [[Propaganda in Nazi Germany|Nazi German propaganda]]]]
[[World War II]] broke out on September 1, 1939, after the German [[invasion of Poland]]. The following day the Free City of Danzig was annexed by [[Nazi Germany]] and most of the local [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Kashubians]], and [[Jews]] were arrested<ref>{{cite web |author=amk |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/15,411004_O_sopockiej_Polonii_po_latach.html |title=O sopockiej Polonii po latach |publisher=rp.pl |date=2009-12-25 |access-date=2013-03-12 |archive-date=2012-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316215716/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/15,411004_O_sopockiej_Polonii_po_latach.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and murdered during the ''[[Intelligenzaktion Pommern|Intelligenzaktion]]'',<ref name=hm2/> imprisoned or expelled. Due to the war, the city's tourist industry collapsed. The last Wagner Festival was held in 1942.

The city remained under German rule until early 1945. In March the Nazis began evacuating the German population along with [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced laborers]].<ref name=hm2/> On March 23, 1945, the [[Soviet Army]] took over the city after several days of fighting, in which Zoppot lost approximately 10% of its buildings;<ref name=hisarch>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sopot.pl/eGmina/en/cityzone/O_Sopocie/Historia_miasta/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106024249/http://www.sopot.pl/eGmina/en/cityzone/O_Sopocie/Historia_miasta|url-status=dead|title=The History of Sopot|archivedate=January 6, 2010}}</ref> three days later, the Soviet 70th Army reached the [[Gdańsk Bay]] coast north of the city.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lakowski, Richard |title=Die Militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=2008 |isbn=9783421062376 |editor-last=Müller, Rolf-Dieter |series=Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg |volume=10/1 |location=München |pages=491–681, here: 561 |chapter=Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten}}</ref>

As per the [[Potsdam Conference]], Zoppot was incorporated into the post-war Polish state and its original name Sopot was restored. The authorities of [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975)|Gdańsk Voivodeship]] were located in Sopot until the end of 1946. Most of the German inhabitants who had remained in the city (by 1 November 1945 6,000 Germans still lived in the town,<ref name=Byk>{{cite book|title=The Rehabilitation and Ethnic Vetting of the Polish Population in the Voivodship of Gdańsk after World War II|author=Sylwia Bykowska|publisher=Peter-Lang-Verlagsgruppe|page=116|date=2020|isbn=978-3-631-67940-1}}</ref> after the evacuation before the advancing Soviet Army) were soon to be [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]], to make room for Polish settlers from [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|former eastern Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union]].

=== Polish People's Republic (1945–1989) ===
[[File:Sopot 1958, Strand, középen a Grand Hotel. Fortepan 54721.jpg|thumb|left|The Sopot beach in the 1950s with the [[Grand Hotel (Sopot)|Grand Hotel]] in the background]]
Sopot recovered rapidly after the war. A [[tram]]way line to Gdańsk was opened, as well as the School of Music, the School of Maritime Trade, a library, and an art gallery. During the city presidency of [[Jan Kapusta]] the town opened an annual Arts Festival in 1948. In 1952, the tramways were replaced by a heavy-rail commuter line connecting Gdańsk, Sopot, and [[Gdynia]]. Although in 1954 the School of Arts was moved to Gdańsk, Sopot remained an important centre of culture, and in 1956 the first Polish [[jazz]] festival was held there (until then jazz had been banned by the [[Communist]] authorities). This was the forerunner of the continuing annual [[Jazz Jamboree]] in Warsaw.

In 1961, the [[Sopot International Song Festival]] was inaugurated, although it was held in Gdańsk for its first three years – it moved to its permanent venue at Sopot's [[Forest Opera]] in 1964. In 1963, the main street of Sopot (''Bohaterów Monte Cassino'', "the Heroes of [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]]") was turned into a pedestrian-only [[promenade]].

New complexes of baths, sanatoria, and hotels were opened in 1972 and 1975. By 1977, Sopot had approximately 54,500 inhabitants, the highest ever in its history. In 1979, the historical town centre was declared a national heritage centre by the government of Poland.

=== Third Polish Republic (1989 onwards) ===
In 1995, the southern bath and sanatoria complex were extended significantly and the [[Adalbert of Prague|Saint Adalbert]] (in Polish ''Św. Wojciech'') spring opened two years later, as a result in 1999 Sopot regained its official [[spa town]] status. In 1999, [[Pope John Paul II]] visited Sopot, about 800,000 pilgrims attended his mass.<ref name=his/>

In 2001, Sopot celebrated the 100th anniversary of its city charter.

Sopot is currently undergoing a period of intense development, including the building of a number of five star hotels and spa resorts on the waterfront. The main pedestrianized street, Monte Cassino, has also been extended by diverting traffic underneath it, meaning the whole street is now pedestrianized. Sopot, aside from Warsaw boasts the highest property prices in Poland.