Chochołów is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Czarny Dunajec __NOTOC__ Gmina Czarny Dunajec is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland, on the Slovak border. Its seat is the town of Czarny Dunajec, which lies approximately west of Nowy Ta ...

, within

Nowy Targ County Nowy Targ County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government refor ...

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). Its capital and largest city is Kraków. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a h ...

, in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, close to the border with

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Chochołów lies approximately south of

Czarny Dunajec Czarny Dunajec is a town located in southern Poland near the Polish- Slovak border in a valley alongside a river of the same name. Czarny Dunajec is the seat of the gmina, belonging to the Nowy Targ County ''(Polish: Powiat Nowotarski)'' and in t ...

, south-west of

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Gorals, Goral dialect: ''Nowy Torg'' ) is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Go ...

, and south of the regional capital

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. The village has an approximate population of 1,135.

History

Chochołów was founded in the 16th century by Bartłomiej Chochołowski, who was appointed hereditary

sołtys A sołtys () is a head of a sołectwo elected by its permanent citizens in a village meeting (''zebranie wiejskie''). According to data from 2010, Poland had 40 thousand sołtys, 30.7% of which were women. Role and powers Since 1990, a soł ...

by Polish King

Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory (; ; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) as well as Prince of Transylvania, earlier Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576). The son of Stephen VIII Báthory ...

for his war merits. The first church was built in the 16th century. Following the late-18th-century

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

, it was annexed by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It became known as the place of the Chochołów Uprising of 1846 ('' Powstanie chochołowskie'') against the foreign oppression in the Austrian Partition of Poland. The uprising was crushed by the Austrians, and its leaders were imprisoned in various locations. Following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Poland regained independence and control of the village. Its economy is closely associated with tourism and the popular Polish-Slovak border crossing to

Suchá Hora Suchá Hora ( Polish: ''Sucha Góra Orawska ;'' also known by other names) is a village and municipality in Tvrdošín District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. History The area became part of Poland in the 10th or early 11th century ...

in the Orava region.

Sights

Chochołów is a village comprised almost exclusively of the heritage Polish wooden houses (''góralskie chaty'') built by the Polish

Gorals The Gorals (; Goral ethnolect: ''Górole''; ; Cieszyn Silesian dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also anglicized as the Highlanders, are an ethnographic group with historical ties to the Vlachs. The Goral people are primarily found in thei ...

highlanders. Prominent heritage sights include the Chochołów Uprising Museum and the Saint Hyacinth church. A thermal spa area was opened here in 2016 using hot mineral springs from the Dolina Chocholowska valley which is located in some distance to the south in the Tatra Mountains

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Gallery

Chocholow(pischmak).JPG, Chochołów Uprising Museum Chochołów kościół T62.jpg, Saint Hyacinth church 2019-07-06 Chochołów, Poland.jpg, Aerial view Czarny Dunajec.JPG,

river in Chochołów

References

{{Authority control Villages in Nowy Targ County 16th-century establishments in Poland Populated places established in the 16th century