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Pułtusk is one of the oldest towns in the region of Mazovia. Its location on the Narew River, at a point where the main roads meet, has had a positive impact on its development as an urban center with over a thousand-year-long history going back to the old times in which the Polish State had its origin.
The growth of Pułtusk, at first as a Slavonic settlement, then a mediaeval stronghold, seat of the local Castellan, and, beginning with the times of Konrad Mazowiecki, seat of the Płock Bishops, was interspersed with periods of havoc and devastation.
No war sweeping Mazovia spared Pułtusk, whether the hostile armies advanced from the North pushing southwards, or from the East heading westwards.
This is where one of the greatest battles of the 1806 Napoleonic campaign took place, and that splendid victory of the French army was then immortalized in the inscription on the Triumphal Arch of Paris.
Currently, the gmina of Pułtusk occupies 133.7 km2 and has a population of 23.600, including 19.050 inhabitants of the town.
Pułtusk is situated within a 60-kilometer drive of Warsaw, on the main road leading to Masuria.
There is still another route through Pułtusk to the Masurian Lakes and the Augustów Lake District, along the natural waterway formed by the Narew.
Before the river reaches the town, two kilometers off the outskirts of Pułtusk, its bed forks encompassing the Old Town with the castle and the adjacent tenement houses. South of Pułtusk the vast river basin joins that of the Bug River. Its eastern part borders on the White Forest spreading over a huge area of nearly 500 km2. The town lies on No. 61 Road, within easy driving distances of other urban centers:
- Ciechanów- 42 km,
- Maków Mazowiecki- 22 km,
- Nasielsk- 20 km,
- Wyszków- 28 km,
- Ostrołęka- 59 km,
- Warszawa- 62 km,
- Olsztyn 169 km
Pułtusk, situated within the Ciechanów Upland, close to the western edge of the White Forest, on the Narew River (in its lower course), is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mazovia.
One can visit quite a number of places of interest here: the longest Gothic marketplace in Europe, the Town-hall Tower erected at the beginning of the 15th cent. (currently: the Regional Museum), a castle housing the Polonia Home hotel, as well as Pultusk Academy of Humanities (formerly: Pultusk School of Humanities) being part of the town for a number of years already. The oldest quarter of Pułtusk, where most of its architectural monuments and other cultural objects of historical interest are to be seen, lies on an island formed by the forking of the river, which explains why Pułtusk is often referred to as the Venice of the North.
