Kamienna Góra

For other places with the same name, see Kamienna Góra (disambiguation).
"Landeshut" redirects here. For the city in Bavaria, Germany, see Landshut.
Kamienna Góra

Kamienna Góra with Karkonosze mountain range

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Kamienna Góra
Coordinates: 50°47′N 16°02′E / 50.783°N 16.033°E / 50.783; 16.033
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Lower Silesian
County Kamienna Góra
Gmina Kamienna Góra (urban gmina)
Government
 • Mayor Krzysztof Świątek
Area
 • Total 17.97 km2 (6.94 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Total 21,440
 • Density 1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 58-400
Car plates DKA
Website http://www.kamiennagora.pl

Kamienna Góra [kaˈmʲɛnːa ˈɡura] (German: Landeshut in Schlesien, Czech: Lanžhot, Kamenná Hora) is a town in south-western Poland with 21,440 inhabitants (2006). It is the seat of Kamienna Góra County, and also of the rural district called Gmina Kamienna Góra, although it is not part of the territory of the latter (the town forms a separate urban gmina).

Kamienna Góra on the Bóbr river is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former Jelenia Góra Voivodeship) between the Stone Mountains and the Rudawy Janowickie at the old trade route from Silesia to Prague, today part of the National Road No. 5. It lies approximately 95 kilometres (59 miles) south-west of the regional capital Wrocław.

History

Grodztwo (Kreppelhof) Castle

In 1254 the Piast Duke Bolesław II the Bald of Legnica gave the area to the Benedictine monastery of Opatovice (in eastern Bohemia), who already had established Grüssau Abbey at nearby Krzeszów. When the abbey passed to the Cistercians in 1289, Kamienna Góra was acquired by Duke Bolko I the Strict of Świdnica, who extended it as a stronghold against Kingdom of Bohemia. It received town privileges by Duke Bolko II the Small in 1334. Nevertheless, the duchy fell to the Bohemian crown with Bolko's death in 1368. It burnt down during the 1426 Hussite campaign to Silesia.

After Frederick II of Prussia had conquered Silesia in 1742, his fierce opponent Maria Theresa of Austria once again stroke back in the course of the Seven Years' War: In 1760 Austrian troops under the command of field marshal Laudon invaded the province and on June 23 defeated a Prussian corps under Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué at the Battle of Landeshut.

The region passed to Poland from Germany in 1945 following decisions approved at the Potsdam Conference at the end of World War II. The region was placed under Polish administration and ethnically cleansed according to the post-war Potsdam Agreement. The native German populace was expelled and replaced with Poles. For more information about the general history of the region, see Silesia. The Counts of Stolberg-Wernigerode were forced to leave the Renaissance castle Kreppelhof that once belonged to the House of Schaffgotsch, which is today in ruins.

Notable people

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kamienna Góra is twinned with:

Gallery

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kamienna Góra.

Coordinates: 50°47′N 16°02′E / 50.783°N 16.033°E / 50.783; 16.033

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