Olecko

Olecko (former since 1560, colloquially also , since 1928) is a town in northeastern Poland. It is in Masuria, near Ełk and Suwałki, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is at the mouth of the Lega river which flows into the Great Olecko Lake (Jezioro Oleckie Wielkie) on its southwestern shore. Olecko is the seat of Olecko County.

==History== thumb|left|Historic houses in the town centre Since the 1540s, there was a hunting lodge on the Lega River, soon expanded into a castle, and a settlement, both called Olecko. Margrabowa was founded as a town by Albert, Duke of Prussia, a vassal of Poland, on January 1, 1560. The name was derived from the word Margrabia (Polish for Margrave), the duke's title as the margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach's prince, by adding the suffix "-owa", which is typical in Poland for place names derived from personal names and titles. The town's coat of arms still reflects the Brandenburg red eagle and the Hohenzollern black and white which go back to Duke Albert. The town's first wójt was Adam Wojdowski. Wojdowski brought Poles from Mazovia and Masuria to settle the town. Already in 1560, the new residents appointed a town council and municipal court and selected fellow Pole Stanisław Milewski as the first mayor. As of 1600, the population was exclusively Polish. The Poles referred to the town by its older Polish name Olecko. In 1616, the seat of the local starosts was definitively moved from Straduny to Olecko.