Milicz (german: Militsch) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in west-central

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 ...

. It is the seat of

Milicz County __NOTOC__ Milicz County ( pl, powiat milicki) 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 governm ...

and of

Gmina Milicz __NOTOC__ Gmina Milicz is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Milicz County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Milicz, which lies approximately north of the regional capital Wrocław. The ...

, part of the larger

Wrocław metropolitan area The Wrocław metropolitan area is a monocentric agglomeration in the south-western part of Poland, in the Lower Silesian Voivodship, consisting of the city of Wrocław (a global Gamma-level metropolis) and its satellite towns. The population liv ...

Geography

The town is situated in the historic

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

region, near the border with

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...

. The centre is located on the Barycz river, about north 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 ...

. From 1975 to 1998 Milicz belonged to

Wrocław Voivodeship 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, r ...

. The

Milicz Ponds The Milicz Ponds ( pl, Stawy Milickie) are a group of about 285 fish ponds in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland, in the valley of the river Barycz, close to the towns of Milicz and Żmigród. The ponds cover a total area of ab ...

, an important habitat and breeding ground for water birds, are a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

established 1963 and protected under the

Ramsar convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

. Since 1996 they also formed part of a larger

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

known as the

Barycz Valley Landscape Park Barycz Valley Landscape Park (''Park Krajobrazowy Dolina Baryczy'') is a protected area ( Landscape Park) in south-western Poland. Established in 1996, it covers an area of . The Park is shared between two voivodeships: Lower Silesian Voivodeship ...

. As of 2019, the town has a population of 11,304.

History

Milicz developed as route of the ancient Amber Trade Route known as the

Amber Road The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. ...

. A settlement at the site was possibly established in the 11th century. ''Milich'' Castle was first mentioned in an 1136 deed by

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II ( la, Innocentius II; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as pope was controversial and the fi ...

as a property of the cathedral chapter of the

Diocese of Wrocław In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. The name possibly refers to a legendary founder or is derived from pl, miły, "pleasant", "friendly". It is listed as a possession of the Polish

Archdiocese of Gniezno The Archdiocese of Gniezno ( la, Archidioecesis Gnesnensis, pl, Archidiecezja Gnieźnieńska) is the oldest Latin Catholic archdiocese in Poland, located in the city of Gniezno.Pope Adrian IV, it is later also mentioned under the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name ''Milicium'' in a 1249 document by Duke

Przemysł I of Greater Poland Przemysł I (4 June 1221 – 4 June 1257), a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1239 until his death, from 1241 with his brother Bolesław the Pious as co-ruler. He was able to re-acquire large parts of Greater Poland, r ...

. The Polish name ''Mylicz'' first appeared in the '' Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis'' (''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') manuscript written about 1305 at the behest of Bishop Henry of Wierzbnej. Milicz

Upon the death of Prince

Bolesław III Wrymouth Bolesław III Wrymouth ( pl, Bolesław III Krzywousty; 20 August 1086 – 28 October 1138), also known as Boleslaus the Wry-mouthed, was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole of Poland between ...

in 1138, Milicz became part of the Polish

Duchy of Silesia The Duchy of Silesia ( pl, Księstwo śląskie, german: Herzogtum Schlesien, cs, Slezské knížectví) with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval duchy located in the historic Silesian region of Poland. Soon after it was formed under the Pia ...

, ruled by Duke Bolesław I the Tall from 1163, and was the seat of a

castellany A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

. The citizens received

town privileges 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 traditio ...

in 1245. In 1294 the area was conquered by Duke Henry III of Głogów and from 1313 belonged to the Silesian

Duchy of Oels The Duchy of Oels (german: Herzogtum Oels) or Duchy of Oleśnica ( pl, Księstwo Oleśnickie, la, Ducatus Olsnensis) was one of the duchies of Silesia with its capital in Oleśnica in Lower Silesia, Poland.Zofia Uszyńska, University of Michigan ...

(Oleśnica), which itself became a

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

fiefdom in 1329. In 1358 the Wrocław bishops finally sold their Milicz estates to the

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branche ...

duke Konrad I, whose successors had 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 ...

castle built. The Oleśnica dukes held the town until in 1492 the line became extinct and the duchy was finally seized as an expired fief by the Bohemian Crown. In 1494 King Vladislas II of Bohemia granted Milicz to his

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

Sigismund Kurzbach, who installed the autonomous Silesian state country of Milicz and

Żmigród Żmigród (german: Trachenberg) is a town in Trzebnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Żmigród. Geography The town lies in the historic Lower Sile ...

''(Trachenberg)''. The Milicz part was acquired by the Maltzan noble family in 1590. Militsch was conquered by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

upon the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War (german: Erster Schlesischer Krieg, links=no) was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. T ...

in 1742, and was part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

from 1871. After Germany's defeat in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Poland re-emerged as an independent country, and Milicz was close to the new border. After 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 ...

's Vistula–Oder Offensive, Milicz became part of the Republic of Poland in 1945 after

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 final 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 ...

Sights

Milicz is the site of one of the six ''Churches of Grace'', which the Silesian Protestants were allowed to build with the permission of

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

emperor

Joseph I Joseph I or Josef I may refer to: *Joseph I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch in 1266–1275 and 1282–1283 * Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678–1711) *Joseph I (Chaldean Patriarch) (reigned 1681–1696) *Joseph I of Portugal (1750–1777) ...

, also King of Bohemia, given at the Altranstädt Convention of 1707. The

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

house of worship finished in 1714 today serves as

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish church dedicated to Saint

Andrew Bobola Andrew Bobola, SJ ( pl, Andrzej Bobola; 1591 – 16 May 1657) was a Polish missionary and martyr of the Society of Jesus, known as the Apostle of Lithuania and the "hunter of souls". He was beaten and tortured to death during the Khmelnytsky Up ...

The castle of the Oleśnica Dukes erected in the 14th century was destroyed in World War II. The

Maltzahn The House of Maltzahn or Maltzan is the name of an ancient German noble family of the counts and barons von Maltza(h)n which originated from Mecklenburg, Germany, whose members occupied many important positions in the Duchy of Mecklenburg and in ...

dynasty left a Late Baroque- Neoclassical palace erected in 1798 with an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

, the first in Silesia. Since 1963 the building is the seat of a secondary forestry college.

Notable people

Maria von Maltzan Maria Helene Françoise Izabel Gräfin von Maltzan, Freiin zu Wartenberg und Penzlin (; 25 March 1909 – 12 November 1997) was an aristocrat who, as part of the German Resistance against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, saved the lives of ma ...

(1909–1997), resistance fighter.

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Walther von Reichenau Walter Karl Ernst August von Reichenau (8 October 1884 – 17 January 1942) was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Reichenau commanded the 6th Army, during the invasions of Belgium and France. During Ope ...

married her niece at the Militsch church. * Joachim Carl von Maltzan (1733–1817),

Prussian 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 e ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

as Minister Plenipotentiary in London * Oskar Obier (1876–1952), painter *

Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach Edwin Graf Rothkirch und Trach (1 November 1888 - 29 July 1980) born in Militsch, was a German general during World War II who commanded Army Group Centre Rear Area and later an army corps. As a show jumper, he took part in the 1932 Summer Oly ...

(1888–1980), officer and show jumping rider * Carl Wilhelm Ferdinand Guhr (1787–1848) conductor *

Damian Wojtaszek Damian Wojtaszek (born 7 September 1988) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as a libero for Projekt Warsaw. He is a former member of the Poland national team and the 2018 World Champion. Career Club In 2012, Wojtaszek joine ...

(born 1988), volleyball player * Hermann Wassertrilling ''(Hirsch Wassertrilling)'', rabbi from

Boskovice Boskovice (; german: Boskowitz) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The area of the historic town centre, Jewish quarter, château complex and castle ruin is well preser ...

, was active here in the 19th century

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Milicz.

References

External links

Local history

on Curiosities and mysteries of the township
Town site

Palace of Milicz

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Milicz County Cities in Silesia