Środa Śląska (german: Neumarkt in Schlesien) is a town in the

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

, in south-western

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 the seat of Środa Śląska County, and of the smaller administrative district (

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

) called Gmina Środa Śląska. The town lies approximately west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, on the

Średzka Woda The Średzka Woda (''Średzianka'', German: Neumarkter Wasser) is a second-order river in the Lower Silesia province of Poland, a left-bank tributary of the Oder, 32.33 km long with the catchment area of 326.76 km2. The river flows out ...

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

. As of 2019, the town has a population of 9,516. It is part of the Wrocław metropolitan area.

History

Środa Śląska is situated in the central part of the Lower Silesia region at the main transport routes joining the east and west of Europe. The name ''Środa'' means " Wednesday", as that was the day on which the weekly market took place. Transforming it from a small commercial settlement into a center of urban character was carried out by the Polish Duke

Henry the Bearded Henry the Bearded ( pl, Henryk (Jędrzych) Brodaty, german: Heinrich der Bärtige; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Duke of Kraków and High Duke of all Pola ...

(1202–1238) whose idea was to enhance the economic and political significance of the Silesia region as a means to unify the Polish Kingdom. At around 1235, he granted the settlement a special law, based on the

Magdeburg law Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within c ...

, but adapted to the local conditions ( ''średzkie law''/''Neumarkter Recht''). It was a model on which many other Polish towns were later founded (including

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...

, Kalisz,

Wieliczka Wieliczka (German: ''Groß Salze'', Latin: ''Magnum Sal'') is a historic town in southern Poland, situated within the Kraków metropolitan area in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. The town was initially founded in 1290 by Premislaus II of P ...

, Radom). In the 13th century the town was a regional center of salt trade. Crafts and trade, including

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

, developed in the town. Since the 15th century,

vines A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

were grown, as a result of which

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

as well as

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

developed. In 1428–31 the town was devastated by the Hussites (especially devastating was the attack in 1428 when Hussites robbed the town and burnt down the monastery and church of

Franciscan order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

). In 1526, the town was incorporated by the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. In the 16th century it was one of the regional centers of

Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

. The town was damaged in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. In 1740, the Prussian soldiers seized the town and incorporated it into the

Prussian Kingdom The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. R ...

. In 1806 it was sacked by French troops, and in 1813 by German soldiers. Together with the rest of Prussia, the town became a part of

unified Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...

in 1871. During

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 Germans established there two

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

subcamps of the Stalag VIII-A

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

. On 9 February 1945, the German troops withdrew from the town and it was subsequently ceded to Poland. The German population of the town fled or was forcefully expelled. During renovation works in the 1980s, a hoard of medieval silver and gold coins and jewellery, named the

Środa Treasure The Środa Treasure ( pl, skarb ze Środy Śląskiej, skarb średzki) is a hoard of silver and gold coins, plus gold jewellery and some precious stones. The hoard dates from the mid 14th century. Its largest component is silver coins, of which the ...

, was found. It is now displayed in the Regional Museum in Środa Śląska and the

National Museum in Wrocław National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Sights

Among the heritage architecture of Środa Śląska are: *

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Saint Andrew church, dating back to the 12th century * Romanesque Nativity of Mary church, a former medieval hospital church, dating back to the 13th century * town hall, dating back to the 14th century, now housing the Regional Museum * medieval town walls from the 13th and 14th centuries * Exaltation of the Holy Cross church, dating back to the 14th century * Dominican monastery, dating back to the 18th century * palace * Prosecutor's office * post office Dzwonnica-w-SrodzieSlaskiej-w-SoboteWielkanocna.jpg, Saint Andrew church Sroda Sl kosciol Narodzenia NMP 2.jpg, Nativity of Mary church StRatuszSrodaSlaska.jpg, Town hall Sroda Sl kosciol Podwyzszenia Krzyza.jpg, Exaltation of the Holy Cross church Środa Śląska, ul. Parkowa 1.jpg, Prosecutor's office Środa Śląska Poczta.jpg, Post office Korona sredzka.jpg, The golden crown of the

Środa treasure The Środa Treasure ( pl, skarb ze Środy Śląskiej, skarb średzki) is a hoard of silver and gold coins, plus gold jewellery and some precious stones. The hoard dates from the mid 14th century. Its largest component is silver coins, of which the ...

Transport

A train station is located in the town.

Notable people

Laurentius Corvinus Laurentius Corvinus (german: Laurentius Rabe; pl, Wawrzyniec Korwin; 1465–1527) was a Silesian scholar who lectured as an "extraordinary" (''i.e.'' untenured) professor at the University of Krakow when Nicolaus Copernicus began to study ther ...

(1465–1527), Polish scholar * Franz Josef Kallmann (1897–1965), American psychiatrist *

Hugo von Kirchbach Hugo Ewald Graf von Kirchbach (23 May 1809 – 26 October 1887) was a Prussian general who commanded the Prussian V Corps during the Franco-Prussian War. Biography He was born in 1809 at Środa Śląska, Neumarkt in Silesia, to the Kingdom o ...

(1809–1887), Prussian general *

Leszek Kosedowski Leszek Marian Kosedowski (born May 25, 1954 in Środa Śląska) is a retired boxer from Poland, who won a bronze medal in the men's featherweight division (– 57 kg) at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There he ...

(born 1954), Polish boxer *

Rościsław Żerelik Rościsław Żerelik (born 1956) is a Polish historian specializing in medieval history, history of supporting science, and the history of Silesia in the Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted ap ...

(born 1956), Polish historian

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Środa Śląska.

References

External links

Municipal website

Jewish Community in Środa Śląska
on Virtual Shtetl

na portalu polska-org.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sroda Slaska Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Środa Śląska County Province of Silesia Province of Lower Silesia