Pieniężno Municipality

An urban-rural municipality in Braniewo County, on the River Wałsza, with its seat in the town of Pieniężno. It covers 241.43 km² and has about 5,400 residents, some 2,300 of them in the town. The municipality comprises the town and 24 village councils. It has been a member of the Association since 25 May 2026.

Overview

• Area: 241.43 km²
• Population: 5,362 (Statistics Poland, 31 December 2025)
• Village councils (sołectwa): 24
• The town has two auxiliary units with their own village heads: Nowe Wewno and Stare Wewno
• Neighbours: the municipalities of Braniewo, Lelkowo, Górowo Iławeckie, Lidzbark Warmiński, Orneta and Płoskinia; it does not border the Kaliningrad Oblast directly
• Crossed by voivodeship roads 507 (Braniewo–Orneta–Dobre Miasto), 510 (to Głębock) and 512 (to Górowo Iławeckie and Bartoszyce)
• Railway line 221 runs through Pieniężno

From Melzak to Pieniężno

The town was granted town rights in 1312 under Chełmno law. It lost them in 1945 and regained them in 1973. It was known as Melzak, in German Mehlsack. Its present name was given in 1947 in honour of Seweryn Pieniężny, publisher of the newspaper “Gazeta Olsztyńska”.

Heritage and the museum

• Castle of the Warmia Chapter — from the 14th century; Nicolaus Copernicus lived here in 1518–1519
• Church of St Peter and St Paul — the present church was built in 1897
• Railway bridge over the Wałsza — built in 1885, destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1950
• Missionary and Ethnographic Museum of the Divine Word Missionaries — opened in 1964 at the seminary, with about 8,500 exhibits
• Wałsza valley — protected as a landscape reserve

Authorities

Mayor (Burmistrz): Krzysztof Kisiel (term 2024–2029)

Cooperation within the WMSP

The Pieniężno Town Council adopted resolution no. XXV/152/26 on joining the Association on 25 March 2026, and the General Assembly admitted the municipality on 25 May 2026. This local government takes part in the shared territorial strategy of the borderland through 2030 and in the CuRI 2026–2027 programme (Eastern Border Regions Catching-up Regions Initiative, European Commission + World Bank).