Brody ( dsb, Brody, german: Pförten) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Żary County __NOTOC__ Żary County ( pl, powiat żarski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lubusz Voivodeship, western Poland, on the German border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local g ...

Lubusz Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship, or Lubuskie Province ( pl, województwo lubuskie ), is a voivodeship (province) in western Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra Voivodeships, pursuant to the Po ...

, in 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 ...

, close to the

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 ...

border. It is the seat of the

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 ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Brody. It lies approximately north-west of Żary and west of

Zielona Góra Zielona Góra is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (2021). Zielona Góra has a favourable geographical position, being close to the Polish-German border and on several international road ...

. The village has a population of 969.

History

The village was mentioned in 1398. It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1454. With the historic Lower Lusatia region it passed from the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

to the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

by the 1635 Peace of Prague. From 1697 it was also under the suzerainty of Polish kings in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

. From 1740 it was a possession of the powerful Polish–Saxon statesman

Heinrich von Brühl Heinrich, count von Brühl ( pl, Henryk Brühl, 13 August 170028 October 1763), was a Polish-Saxon statesman at the court of Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a member of the powerful German von Brühl family. The incumbency of ...

, who had an extended

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

palace built, where he received King

Augustus III of Poland Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...

and kept his famous Meissen porcelain ''

Swan Service The Swan Service (German: ''Schwanenservice'', pl, Serwis łabędzi) is a large service of baroque Meissen porcelain which was made for the First Minister of the Electorate of Saxony and favourite of king Augustus III of Poland, Heinrich von Brü ...

'' tableware of more than 2,000 pieces designed by

Johann Joachim Kaendler Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

. There was also a library and an archaeological collection. One of the main routes connecting

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

ran through the town. In 1748, the Zasiecka Gate was built on the occasion of the arrival of King Augustus III. The palace was devastated by Prussian troops by the explicit command of King Frederick II of Hohenzollern during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. After the Prussian occupation it passed to Polish diplomat, General and poet

Alois Friedrich von Brühl Alois Friedrich von Brühl (; 31 July 1739 Dresden – 30 January 1793 Berlin) was a Polish- Saxon diplomat, politician, Freemason, soldier, actor and playwright. Biography He was the eldest son of minister Heinrich von Brühl, one of the adv ...

, who spent his last years there. In 1790 the small town gained prominence throughout Europe, after Brühl staged

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' at the palace park. By the Final Act of the

Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

in 1815 Brody (then as ''Pförten'') with Lower Lusatia fell to Prussia and from 1871 to 1945 the area was part of Germany. The Brühl Palace, again ravaged 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 ...

, has in parts been rebuilt. After the war it became part of Poland as a village (see ''

Territorial changes of Poland after World War II At the end of World War II, Poland underwent major changes to the location of its international border. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Oder–Neisse line became its western border, resulting in gaining the Recovered Territories f ...

''). In 1949, the post-war library was founded.

Notable people

Carl von Brühl Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Moritz Paul von Brühl (1772–1837) was a friend of Goethe, who, as the Superintendent general of the Prussian royal theatres, was of some importance in the history of the development of the drama in Germany. He was a m ...

(1772–1837) *

Theresia Anna Maria von Brühl Theresia is the usual Dutch and German form of the name Teresa, and may refer to: * Theresia of Dietrichstein (1768–1822), German countess and noted beauty * Edith Stein (1891–1942), also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, German Jewi ...

(1784–1844) *

Hermann Ulrici Hermann Ulrici (; 23 March 180611 January 1884) was a German philosopher. He was co-editor (with I. H. Fichte) of the philosophical journal ''Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik''. He also wrote under the pseudonym of Ulrich ...

(1806–1884), philosopher * Friedrich-August Graf von Brühl (1913–1981),

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

officer

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Brody is twinned with: *

Lubsko Lubsko (german: Sommerfeld, Lower Sorbian language, Lower Sorbian: ''Žemŕ''), formerly Zemsz, is a town in Żary County in the Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland. It is the administrative seat of the Gmina Lubsko and has a population of 13,92 ...

, Poland

References

Villages in Żary County {{Żary-geo-stub