History of Sopot

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. 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 Kingdom of Poland.

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 housees in Sopot. During the negotiations of the Treaty of Oliva King John II Casimir lived in one of them, while Swedish negotiator Magnus de la Gardie resided in another — it has been known as the Swedish Manor ever since.

During the 1733 War of the Polish Succession, Imperial Russian troops besieged the nearby city of Gdańsk and a year later looted and burned the village of Sopot to the ground. Much of Sopot would remain abandoned during and after the conflict.

In 1757 and 1758 most of the ruined manors were bought by the Pomeranian 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.

Kingdom of Prussia

Sopot was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 in the First Partition of Poland. Following the new laws imposed by King Frederick the Great, church property was confiscated by the state. The village was reconstructed and in 1806 the area was sold to the Gdańsk merchant Carl Christoph Wegner.

In 1819, Wegner opened the first public bath in Sopot and tried to promote the newly