Gostyń () is a town in western Poland, seat of the Gostyń County and Gmina Gostyń in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in Leszno Voivodship). According to 31 December 2023 data its population was 27,846.
The main landmark of Gostyń is Basilica of Święta Góra (Holy Hill), the main Marian sanctuary of the archdiocese of Poznań and a masterpiece of Pompeo Ferrari, with the monastery of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.
Geography
The total area of Gostyń is . The town comprises 1% of the area of the county and 8% of the commune, according to Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
Transport
National Road 12 used to pass through Gostyń. On Friday 12 December 2025 a new bypass opened which diverted the road to the north of the town. National Road 12 connects Łęknica on the German border to Dorohusk-Berdyszcze on the Ukrainian border. National Road 12 intersects with major motorways and expressways, including the A18 near Żary and the A1 near Piotrków Trybunalski.
There is no railway connection to Gostyń, however local buses link it to nearby Leszno and Jarocin.
History
thumb|left|A 1278 document establishing Gostyń and granting town rights, issued by [[Przemysł II]]
Gostyń dates back to the 13th century. The town was founded by local nobleman and granted town rights in 1278 by Przemysł II. It was named after the nearby village of Gostyń, which since took the name of Stary Gostyń ("Old Gostyń"). It developed as a local centre of trade and crafts. In the 16th century Gostyń was an important regional Reformation center, and in 1565 a synod of various Protestants of Greater Poland was held there.
In 1793 Gostyń was annexed by Prussia during the Second Partition of Poland and it was known as Gostyn in German. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by the Poles and included within short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia. The Prussians abolished the organization in 1846 and its library's collection was moved to Poznań. During the Nazi German occupation of Poland, Gostyń became the site of public executions, arrests and expulsions of Poles. First mass arrests and executions were carried out in September 1939. On 21 October 1939 some 30 citizens of the town whose names were listed in the Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen (Special Prosecution Book-Poland) prepared by local German minority, were executed by an Einsatzkommando. Among the murdered were Gostyń's mayor Hipolit Niestrawski, Polish activists, officials, craftsmen and former Greater Poland insurgents. It was one of many massacres of Poles committed by Germany on 20–23 October 1939 across the region in attempt to pacify and terrorize the Polish population. Mass expulsions began on 4 December 1939, with up to 2,000 Poles deported to General Government on the orders of SS-Standartenführer Ernst Damzog stationing in Poznań. Between spring of 1940 and 15 March 1941 additional 3,222 were deported. , Polish officer and pre-war chairman of the local football club Kania Gostyń, was murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre in 1940.
Despite such circumstances, local Poles organized an underground resistance movement, which included structures of the Polish Underground State, the secret youth organization Tajny Hufiec, and the ' organization, which was founded in 1940.