Szprotawa

Szprotawa
Szprotawa town hall
Coat of arms
Szprotawa
Coordinates: 51°34′N 15°30′E / 51.567°N 15.500°E
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lubusz
County	Żagań
Gmina	Szprotawa
Government
• Mayor	Józef Rubacha
Area
• Total	10.94 km^2 (4.22 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	12,613
• Density	1,200/km^2 (3,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	67-300
Car plates	FZG
Website	http://www.szprotawa.pl

Szprotawa [ʂprɔˈtava] (German: Sprottau) is a town in Poland, in Lubusz Voivodeship, in Żagań County. It has 12,648 inhabitants (2004).

History

The first information about the terrains of today's Szprotawa comes at 1000 from the chronicle of bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, who accompanied the emperor Otto III on pilgrimage to the grave of holy Adalbert in Gniezno. Until World War II the town was part of Germany. After 1945 the native German population was expelled and replaced with Poles.

Sights to see

• Old city
• Sagan Gate, from the Middle Ages
• Town hall, from the Renaissance
• Saint Andreas Roman Catholic Church, from the 13th century
• Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, from the 13th century
• Evangelical Church, from the 18th century (old castle)
• Old military airport with nuclear weapons storage
• Castle Chrobry (archeological)
• Silesia Walls

Nature

• Oak "Chrobry", the oldest in Poland (750 years old)
• Naturreserve "Buczyna Szprotawska"
• Naturreserve "Park Słowiański"
• Lower Silesia Forest
• Old city park from the 19th century

Notable residents

• Jakob Ebert (1549–1614), theologian
• Heinrich Göppert (1800–1884), scientist
• Heinrich Laube (1806–1884), author
• Karl Bartsch (1832–1888), Germanist
• Robert Beisert (1833–1893), politician
• Harald Bielfeld (1863–1933), politician
• Walter Dötsch (1909–1987), artist
• Hans-Joachim Höfig (1915–2006), Sportsman
• Manfred Steinbach (born 1933), sportsman
• Roswitha Berndt (born 1936), historian
• Klaus Hänsch (born 1938), politician, President of the European Parliament
• Rudolf Langer (bon 1939), sportsman
• Detlev Kittstein (1944–1996), sportsman
• Fritz Puppel (born 1944), musician

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Szprotawa is twinned with:

• Gevelsberg, Germany^[1]

See also

• Museum of the Szprotawa Land
• The Lower Silesia Deep Woods Appreciation Society

Gallery

• 

  The museum (Sagan Gate)

• 

  City Center

• 

  Center City Park

• 

  West Tower

• 

  Saint Mary`s Church

• 

  Ruin of Evangelical Church (old castle)

• 

  Saint Faustina sarcophagus

• 

  Bóbr River by Slavic Park

External links

• Official town webpage
• Official museum webpage
• Jewish Community in Szprotawa on Virtual Shtetl

Coordinates: 51°34′N 15°32′E / 51.567°N 15.533°E

References

Notes

1. "List of Twin Towns in the Ruhr District" (PDF). © 2009 Twins2010.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28. External link in |publisher= (help)