Kostrzyn nad Odrą

Kostrzyn nad Odrą, translated literally as Kostrzyn upon the Oder and known in German as Küstrin, is a town in Gorzów County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, on the border with Germany. It lies at the confluence of the Oder and Warta rivers on the western rim of the Warta mires, about 90 kilometres south of Szczecin. Settled since the Bronze Age, the area was held by the Piast rulers of Poland from about 960 until 1261, when the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg seized it. The town received Magdeburg town rights by 1300, and in 1535 to 1571 it was the seat of John of Brandenburg-Küstrin, who made it the capital of the Neumark and built the castle that grew into a large fortress. After World War II the former town centre, the Kostrzyn fortress, was not rebuilt and the central area now lies around the railway station.