Sobków 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 ...

Jędrzejów County __NOTOC__ Jędrzejów County ( pl, powiat jędrzejowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish l ...

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, also known as the Świętokrzyskie Province, and the Holy Cross Voivodeship ( pl, województwo świętokrzyskie ) is a voivodeship (province) of Poland situated in southeastern part of the country, in the histo ...

, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called

Gmina Sobków __NOTOC__ Gmina Sobków is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Sobków, which lies approximately north-east of Jędrzejów and south-w ...

. It lies in historic

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

, approximately north-east of Jędrzejów and south-west of the regional capital Kielce. The village is located on the left bank of the

Nida Nida or NIDA may refer to: People * Nida Allam (born 1993), American politician * Nida Fazli (1938–2016), Indian Hindi and Urdu poet and lyricist * Nida Eliz Üstündağ (born 1996), Turkish female swimmer * Eugene Nida (1914–2011), American l ...

river. It was founded as a city in 1563 by

Grand Treasurer of the Crown Podskarbi in Poland then in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal st ...

Stanisław Sobek, and lost its city rights in 1869. Sobkow has a rail station, which is located three kilometers northwest of the village, along a main line from

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 ...

to Kielce. The name of the village comes from Stanislaw Sobek of Sulejów, who founded it in the area of the village of Nida. Together with the town, Sobek founded a castle, which became main residence of his family. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town belonged to several families, such as the Drohojewski, the Wielopolski, the Sarbiewski, the Myszkowski, and the Szaniawski (since 1725). Sobków remained a small town, whose development was limited due to proximity of well-established local urban and trade centers at Checiny and Jędrzejów. In 1667, while part of

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo Sandomierskie, la, Palatinatus Sandomirensis) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Polan ...

, it had only 32 houses, with the population of 270. After the Partitions of Poland (1795), it belonged to the Russian-controlled Congress Poland (1815 - 1915), and in 1827, its population was app, 1,000. Following the example of many other places in northern Lesser Poland, Sobków lost its town charter in 1869, after the January Uprising. During

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 ...

, the village was completely burned (1915). Most interesting sight at Sobków is a fortified castle, called Fortalicja sobkowska. It was built on the left bank of the Nida by Stanislaw Sobek, in 1560–1570. The castle is surrounded by a rectangular wall, with towers in each corner. Inside the walls the castle once stood. The original castle was replaced by a Classicistic complex in 1767. Now it is in ruins. Furthermore, Sobków has the St. Stanislaus church, built in the mid-16th century as a Calvinist prayer house. In ca. 1570 the house was handed over to Roman Catholic Church by Stanislaw Sobek, the son of the founder. The church has the shape of a cross, with a Baroque main altar and 18th century

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

s. Damaged during

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 opposing ...

, the church was remodelled in 1945–1946.

References

Villages in Jędrzejów County Sandomierz Voivodeship Kielce Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939) {{Jędrzejów-geo-stub