Łeba (pronounced: , csb, Łeba; german: Leba) is a seaside town in the

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province (Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The ...

of northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It is located in the region of Gdańsk Pomerania (

Pomerelia Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...

), near

Łebsko Lake Łebsko Lake () is a coastal lake in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland. It is the part of Słowiński National Park. However, it was never a part of the Baltic sea. It was formed because of the rise in the sea level and the flooding of the lo ...

and the mouth of the river Łeba on the

Slovincian Coast The Slovincian Coast ( pl, Wybrzeże Słowińskie; csb, Słowińsczé Ùbrzeżé) ( 313.41) is a mesoregion, the northernmost part of the Koszalin Coast, with an area of 1132 km2. The highest hill is Rowokół, at 114,8 metres above sea le ...

of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

History

The

n settlement of Łeba was first mentioned in a 1282 document of Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania. At that time the village was located about two kilometers () west from the present mouth of the Łeba River. The church of St. Nicholas was mentioned in 1296. Łeba was part of fragmented Poland until 1309, when it was annexed by the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

after their takeover of Gdańsk. Łeba received municipal rights by the State of the Teutonic Order in 1357. Located at the

at the

, it developed to a fishing port and a wood marketplace. In 1440, the town joined the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the a ...

, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. With Lauenburg (Lębork) Land it became a Polish

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

during the Thirteen Years' War in 1455, held by the Dukes of Pomerania. Old Łeba was threatened for many centuries by floods and expanding sand dunes and therefore was rebuilt in a safer location after 1558. The town was reintegrated with the Polish Crown after the death of the last Pomeranian duke

Bogislaw XIV Bogislaw XIV (31 March 1580 – 10 March 1637) was the last Duke of Pomerania. He was also the Lutheran administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin. Biography Bogislaw was born in Barth as a member of the House of Pomerania. He was the third ...

as part of the

, until King John II Casimir Vasa enfeoffed Elector Frederick William I of

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...

with Lauenburg Land by the 1657

Treaty of Bydgoszcz The Treaty of Bromberg (, Latin: Pacta Bydgostensia) or Treaty of Bydgoszcz was a treaty between John II Casimir of Poland and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia that was ratified at Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) on 6 November 1657. The tr ...

. With the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Łeba was incorporated into

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. Soon after a large port was built on instruction of the Prussian king, whereby a broad channel between the Leba lake and the

was dug, which however did not weather the storms on the coast. Due to its picturesque setting, the Leba seaside after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

became a popular resort for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

bohémiens. The painter Max Pechstein and other

expressionists Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

frequented the place. In the proximity of Leba there is a large former testing area for long-range rocket weapons operated by the

Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. History Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel L ...

company. On the Leba spit the

long-range rocket

Rheinbote ''Rheinbote'' (''Rhine Messenger'', or V4) was a German short range ballistic rocket developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig at Berlin-Marienfelde during World War II. It was intended to replace, or at least supplement, large-bore artillery by providing f ...

was tested between 1941 and 1945. Also the

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

was tested here from 1943 to 1945. Between 1963 and 1973 33 Meteor

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

s were launched from Łeba. In March 1945, shortly before the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the region was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. Following the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...

, after the end of the war the town became again part of Poland.

Sights

There is an abundance of architectural and natural attractions near Łeba, above all the

Słowiński National Park Słowiński National Park ( pl, Słowiński Park Narodowy) is a national park in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It is situated on the Baltic coast, between Łeba and Rowy. The northern boundary of the park consists of of coastline ...

with its moving sand dunes, about west of the city. Further objects of interest include: *ruins of the St. Nicholas church west of the city on the way to the beach *fishermen's church of 1683 with a painting by Max Pechstein *fishermen's dwellings from the 19th century in Kościuszki street *the 19th century casino on Nadmorska street, today the Hotel Neptun *former rocket test site near Pletka *the dinosaur park south of the city File:Port jachtowy Łeba2.JPG, Yacht port in Łeba File:Leba Dunes.jpg, Beachgoers on the white sand dunes of Łeba File:Nadmorska Street - Łeba.JPG, Nadmorska, one of the main tourist streets in Łeba, facing west File:Łeba-Harbor.jpg, Port of Łeba

Climate

Łeba has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfb'').

Demographics

Since the medieval Christianization of the region, the local population was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. After the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the inhabitants of the town were predominantly

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and the area was subjected to

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...

. Since the end of World War II the population is predominantly composed of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Roman Catholics.

Famous people

* Klaus Weiher, a noble of the

Weyher family Weyher family (alternative spellings: ''Wejher'', ''Weiher'', ''Waier'', ''Weier'', sometimes spelled Weiger pl, Weyherowie) was a family of high nobility, most prominent in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Pomerania region and the Polish–Lith ...

* Martin Weiher (1512–1556) ( de) Lutheran

bishop of Cammin The Bishopric of Cammin (also Kammin, Kamień Pomorski) was both a former Roman Catholic diocese in the Duchy of Pomerania from 1140 to 1544, and a secular territory of the Holy Roman Empire ( Prince-Bishopric) in the Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) area f ...

International relations

Łeba is twinned with:

References

External links

Main websiteŁeba accommodationPhotogalleryGerman Page about Łeba
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Coastal cities and towns in Poland Lębork County Seaside resorts in Poland Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Port cities and towns in Poland