Border post in Bogusze

The boundary post in Bogusze, located in the Ełk County of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, is a historic monument built in 1545 at the tripoint of the Duchy of Prussia, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Erected to commemorate the demarcation of borders between these states, it stands approximately 6 meters tall, is made of brick, plastered, and covered with red roof tiles. On the eastern side of the post, there is a marble plaque with the coats of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchy of Prussia, bearing a Latin inscription. This original plaque was removed in 1907 and replaced with a sandstone replica, while the original was transferred to a museum in Königsberg. The Latin inscription refers to the times of Sigismund Augustus and describes the purpose of the post as marking the state border. Just 24 years after the post was erected, following the Union of Lublin, the border became obsolete as the Podlaskie Voivodeship was separated from Lithuania and incorporated into the Crown. Between 1569 and 1795, the Polish-Prussian border in the area of the post underwent further changes, especially after the Third Partition of Poland, when the borderlands were annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1807, the border was restored with the establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw, and subsequent changes led to the creation of Prussian-Russian, German-Russian, and German-Polish borders. It is worth noting that four hundred years after the post was erected, in 1945, Masuria was incorporated into Poland, causing the state border to no longer run in its vicinity. The boundary post in Bogusze is thus not only an architectural element but also a valuable historical object that illustrates the political and border changes in the region over the centuries.