Jurgów (; sk, Jurgov, hu, Szepesgyörke, german: Jurkau or ''Joerg'') is a small village (c. 900 inhabitants) in the Spisz region of southern

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 ...

, near the border with

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 s ...

and the town of

Bukowina Tatrzańska Bukowina Tatrzańska , ( sk, Tatranská Bukovina) is a village in Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Bukowina Tatrzańs ...

, on the Białka river. It lies approximately east of

, north-east of

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...

, and south of the regional capital

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

History

It was founded in 1546 on

Vlach law The Vlach law (, ro, legea românească, "Romanian law", or , "customs of the land", ) refers to the traditional Romanian common law as well as to various special laws and privileges enjoyed or enforced upon particularly pastoralist communities ...

in the possessions of the Niedzica Castle (also known as the ''Dunajec Castle''). At that time it belonged to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, although the owner of the area was then a Polish magnate Olbracht Łaski. According to legend, the settler of the village was a highlander robber called Jurko, hence the name of the village. The documents from the period 1589-1595 related to the sale of the Niedzica possessions by Olbracht Łaski to György Horváth, the village is mentioned in Hungarian as ''Gyurgow''. After the I World War in when the

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

ceased to exist, the village became part of newly independent Poland. In 1939 when

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and

invaded Poland it was occupied by Slovakia. After the war it returned in 1945 to Poland. It is one of the 14 villages in the Polish part of the historical region of Spiš (Polish: ''Spisz'').

Sights and attractions

* The beautiful and historic St Sebastian wooden church from about 1670. It is made completely of wood and is still in use today. The church has twice been rebuilt: first in 1811 and again in 1869. It is surrounded by large, very old trees. The walls and roof of the church are faced with wooden shingles, and it has a

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

-style interior, including many carved figures of angels, saints, etc. * A group of shepherds' huts in the "Podokólne" clearing. Grazing cows and sheep was a primary occupation of Jurgów's villagers, who owned a lot of pastureland in the Tatra mountains where they grazed their flocks, and had many shepherd's huts. After they lost their pastures in the Tatras, they moved their various structures down from the mountains and assembled them in a nearby clearing. They use these to shelter their cows and sheep from spring through autumn. Some people also stay there for a time during the same period. * An old water-powered

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

, which is still in use today. *

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 ...

's croft, which is currently a part of the Tatra Museum in

Gallery

File:Church in Jurgow.jpg, Wooden church in Jurgów

References

External links

Wirtualny Jurgów
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgow Villages in Tatra County Spiš Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)