Kurów Wielki () is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Gaworzyce __NOTOC__ Gmina Gaworzyce is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Polkowice County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Gaworzyce, which lies approximately north-west of Polkowice, and north-wes ...

, within

Polkowice County __NOTOC__ Polkowice County ( pl, powiat polkowicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local go ...

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. It lies approximately east of

Gaworzyce Gaworzyce is a village in Polkowice County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district ( gmina) called Gmina Gaworzyce. It lies approximately north-west of Polkowice, and north-west of t ...

, north of

Polkowice Polkowice (german: Polkwitz) is a town in south-western Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The town is the seat of Polkowice County and of Gmina Polkowice. Geography Polkowice is located in historic Lower Silesia, about north ...

, and north-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 ...

History

The oldest known mention of the village is from 1266. It was then part of the

Duchy of Głogów The Duchy of Głogów ( pl, Księstwo głogowskie, cs, Hlohovské knížectví) or Duchy of Glogau (german: Herzogtum Glogau) was one of the Duchies of Silesia ruled by the Silesian Piasts. Its capital was Głogów in Lower Silesia. History In ...

within fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule i ...

-ruled

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 ...

, and was owned by Jan of Kurów from the

Kurowie Kurowie was a Polish noble family, from Mazovia in medieval Poland. History The family was first mentioned on 2 May 1239 in ''Tabulatorium Actorum Antiquorum Varsoviense Maximum''. Bolesław I of Masovia confirmed the purchase of the village ''D ...

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

, a Polish knight in service of

Konrad I, Duke of Głogów Konrad I of Głogów ( pl, Konrad I głogowski; – 6 August 1273/74), a member of the Silesian Piasts, was Silesian duke of Głogów from 1249/50 until his death. Life Konrad was the fourth son of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia and Hi ...

. In the 18th century the village was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, and from 1871 to 1945 it was also part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, before being reintegrated with Poland following

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 ...

's defeat in

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 ...

in 1945.

Sights

Among the notable monuments in Kurów Wielki are a

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 ...

parish church of Saint John the Baptist from the 14th century, and a tower in the same style. There are tombstones and epitaphs built into the church walls and the wall around the church and the cemetery. A presbytery from the late 18th century is located next to the church.

Notable residents

Karl Arndt __NOTOC__ Karl Hermann Arndt (10 March 1892 – 30 December 1981) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Ger ...

(1892–1981), German general

References

Villages in Polkowice County {{Polkowice-geo-stub