Czernica (german: Czernitz) 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 ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Gaszowice __NOTOC__ Gmina Gaszowice is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Rybnik County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the village of Gaszowice, which lies approximately west of Rybnik and west of the regional capital Katow ...

, within

Rybnik County __NOTOC__ Rybnik County ( pl, powiat rybnicki) is a suburban county in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, created in 1999 as a result of Polish local government reforms. Its administrative seat is the city of Rybnik, although the city is not pa ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian ...

, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Gaszowice, west of

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; szl, Rybńik) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 miles) from the Czech border. It is on ...

, and south-west of the regional capital

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

. The village has an approximate population of 2,100, and covers an area of 5.18 km². It is the birthplace of the composer

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

. The name of the village is derived from the river flowing through the village. Czernica was first mentioned in a document of 17 March 1317. Between 1880 and 1966, gypsum was mined nearby. Czernica has several trees classed as

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

s: a number of linden trees with circumferences up to 467 cm, and an

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

tree with a circumference of 336 cm.

References

Villages in Rybnik County {{Rybnik-geo-stub