Frauenburg (Ostpreußen)
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Frombork (; german: Frauenburg ) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Vistula Lagoon in Braniewo County, within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,260. The town was first mentioned in a 13th-century document. In the early 16th century it was the residence of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who used it as a site for several of his observations. The town and its 14th century cathedral were badly damaged in World War II. After the war the cathedral was meticulously reconstructed and is again a popular tourist destination, listed as a Historic Monument of Poland. Frombork is known as “The Jewel of Warmia” because of its many historical sites. The Museum of Copernicus in Frombork holds exhibitions related to the astronomer, as well as to astronomy in general, and includes a planetarium. One of the biggest attractions is also the annual International Festival of Organ Music, held every summer. Between 1975 and 1998 the town was part of the
Elbląg Voivodeship Elbląg Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, superseded by the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Elbląg. Major cities and towns ( ...
.


History


Early history

The town was founded as a defensive stronghold on an Old Prussian site. In 1224 at
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
, Emperor Frederick II declared Prussia directly subordinate to the church and Holy Roman Empire. Later in the same year the pope assigned Bishop William of Modena as the papal legate to Prussia. With the imperial Golden Bull of Rimini, the Teutonic Knights were granted control of the region, which they subsequently conquered. According to a local legend, the Old Prussian inhabitants were baptised by Anselm of Meissen, a priest of the Teutonic Knights and the first Bishop of the
Bishopric of Warmia The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia ( pl, Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie; german: Fürstbistum Ermland) was a semi-independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Warmia see and comprising one third of the then diocesan are ...
which was created in 1242 by William of Modena. Supposedly when the stronghold's lord died, his widow Gertruda offered the settlement to the bishop, and in her honor it was named "Frauenburg" (German for "Our Lady's fortress", "Castrum Dominae Nostrae" in Latin). This name is not unique in German, as it usually originates in the construction of a fortified chapel, church, or monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary or inhabited by nuns. Several places were thus named Frauenburg or Marienburg, like the nearby Marienburg castle and city (now
Malbork Malbork; ; * la, Mariaeburgum, ''Mariae castrum'', ''Marianopolis'', ''Civitas Beatae Virginis'' * Kashubian: ''Malbórg'' * Old Prussian: ''Algemin'' is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It is the seat of Malbork County and has a ...
). The village was first mentioned in a 1278 document signed by Bishop Heinrich Fleming. On 8 July 1310, Bishop
Eberhard of Neisse This is a list of Bishops and Prince-Bishops of the Diocese of Warmia ( pl, link=no, Diecezja warmińska, la, link=no, Dioecesis Varmiensis, german: link=no, Bistum Ermland), which was elevated to the Archdiocese of Warmia in 1992. The Bishop ...
granted the town
Lübeck city rights Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the sta ...
, as used by many member cities of the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
. It was described, still rather unspecifically, as ''Civitas Warmiensis'' (''Warmian city''). In 1329–1388, the magnificent
Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...
cathedral (now the
Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Andrew Frombork Cathedral or the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Andrew ( pl, Bazylika archikatedralna Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny i św. Andrzeja we Fromborku) in Frombork, Poland, is a Roman ...
) was built, and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, or "Our Lady" (in Latin, ''Domina Nostra''; in German, ''Unsere Frau''). Hence, the town was called ''Frauenburg''. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been expanded and rebuilt repeatedly. There are also several other historic churches, dedicated to St. Nicholas,
St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
, and
St. Anne According to Christianity, Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Gospel#Canonical gospels, canonical gospels. ...
, all built in the 13th century.


Copernican era

In 1414, Frauenburg was plundered and burned during the
Hunger War The Hunger War or Famine War was a brief conflict between the allied Kingdom of Poland, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, against the Teutonic Knights in summer 1414 in an attempt to resolve territorial disputes. The war earned its name from destructi ...
between the Teutonic Knights and Poland. In 1440, the city joined the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, at the request of which Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon signed the act of incorporation of the region into the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includ ...
in 1454. In 1454, the Warmian Chapter paid homage to King Casimir IV Jagiellon, recognizing him as rightful ruler. In retaliation the Teutonic Knights invaded the town in the same year. In 1455, Czech mercenaries in the service of Poland, commanded by Jan Skalski,Serwis Internetowy Miasta Frombork, "Historia Miasta" (History of the City)

took back the city. Frauenburg was recognized as part of the Polish Crown by the Second Peace of Thorn (1466). It became an important town of the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia and part of the autonomous province of Royal Prussia. The town was also devastated after a raid by Albert, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in 1520 during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1519–1521. In the Middle Ages, the inhabitants were mainly merchants, farmers and fishermen. The most famous resident was the astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived and worked here as a canon (1512–16 and 1522–43). Copernicus is said to have jokingly called it "''Weiberstadt''" ("Wives' Town") or "''Gynepolis''" (in Medieval Greek). In 1519 Copernicus wrote to the King of Poland, asking for help against the Teutonic Knights who were threatening the city. The letter however was intercepted, and the Teutonic Knights took and burned the city (Copernicus and other canons had left the city shortly before). The astronomer wrote his epochal work, '' De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium'' in Frauenburg. In his book, written in Latin, Copernicus used the Latin name of the town and region - ''Frueburgo Prussiae''. Shortly after its 1543 publication, Copernicus died there and was buried in the town's cathedral where there is a monument to him bearing the inscription ' (Most renowned astronomer, whose name and glory filled both worlds). His grave was thought to have been found by archaeologists in 2005. This was subsequently confirmed in November 2008 by the publication of the results of DNA tests on fragments of bone and hair found on the skeleton: hair that matched two strands of hair which belonged to Copernicus and are currently located in Uppsala University. In the northwest corner of the cathedral grounds is Copernicus' tower, and in the southwest corner an octagonal building with a square
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
and a small
planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...
and a Foucault's pendulum. From atop the tower one can survey the town, the tiny harbor, the panorama of the Baltic Sea, and much of Warmia's countryside.


Modern history

Frauenburg suffered destruction and heavy population losses during the
Polish–Swedish wars The Polish–Swedish Wars were a series of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden. Broadly construed, the term refers to a series of wars between 1563 and 1721. More narrowly, it refers to particular wars between 1600 and ...
. Between 1626 and 1635 it was occupied by
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
who looted the cathedral and shipped many cultural artifacts, including Copernicus' manuscripts to
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Further destruction followed during the Deluge (Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660), the Great Northern War and the War of the Fourth Coalition. After the First Partition of Poland (1772) the town was taken over by the Kingdom of Prussia and in 1773 it became part of the newly established province of
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
. With the unification of Germany in 1871, Frauenburg became 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 ...
. The ''
Preußische Ostbahn The Prussian Eastern Railway (german: Preußische Ostbahn) was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately long, connected the capital, Berlin, with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) ...
'' railway line was opened in 1899 connecting Elbing (present-day Elbląg) and Braunsberg (present-day Braniewo) via Frauenburg, leading further to the Russian border at
Eydtkuhnen Chernyshevskoye (; , from 1938: ''Eydtkau''; ) is a settlement in Nesterovsky District in the eastern part of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, close to the border with Lithuania. Between Chernyshevskoye and Lithuanian Kybartai is an important 24-hour ...
(present-day Chernyshevskoye). Passenger services on the railway line ceased in early 2006. After Germany's defeat in the war, the town became part of Poland in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
. Towards and after the end of World War II the German inhabitants were either evacuated or expelled. The town was renamed to ''Frombork'' and resettled by Poles, many of whom were expelleés from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1959, Frombork regained its city rights. Having been heavily (70%) damaged in World War II, it was rebuilt by Polish
Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
and others in 1966–1973, in time for the 500th anniversary of Copernicus' birth. Today, Frombork is regaining its importance as a tourist destination, aided by its key location just south of the frontier with the Russian district of Kaliningrad. Although the railway through Frombork closed in 2006, the port has seasonal ferry connections with
Elbląg Elbląg (; german: Elbing, Old Prussian: ''Elbings'') is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 117,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County. ...
, Krynica Morska and Kaliningrad.


Political timeline

*1278 - first mentioned *1310 -
Lübeck city rights Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the sta ...
granted for ''Civitas Warmiensis'' *1388 - cathedral completed and dedicated to the Virgin Mary *1466 - recognized as part of the Polish Crown in the Second Peace of Thorn (1466): becomes part of the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia in the autonomous province of Royal Prussia *1772 - First Partition of Poland: becomes part of the Kingdom of Prussia *1871 -
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 ...
founded: automatically becomes a part of it *1918 - Weimar Republic *1933 - Nazi Germany *1945 - Polish People's Republic


Monuments

Several monuments are on display in Frombork (see external links): * monument to Nicolaus Copernicus, was replaced in the mid-1950s as the monument erected by Imperial Germany's Wilhelm II was destroyed in World War II * monument honoring Red Army soldiers, inscribed: "Glory to the Red Army heroes fallen in liberating Frombork" * monument to Germans of the former province of
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
who drowned in the Vistula Lagoon when fleeing their homeland in 1944–1945, made from a glacial erratic rock found in the water * memorial honoring the
Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
and others who took part in "Operation 1001" 1966–73, the rebuilding of the town from its devastation in World War II * Copernicus' astronomical observatory, work room, instruments and planetarium are on display at Frombork's Copernicus Museum


Transport

Frombork is located at the intersection of Voivodeship roads 504 and 505.


Sports

The local
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club is Zalew Frombork. It competes in the lower leagues.


International relations


Twin towns - sister cities

Frombork is twinned with: *
Sucha Beskidzka Sucha Beskidzka (before 1961 called only ''Sucha'') is a town in the '' Beskid Żywiecki'' mountain range in southern Poland, on the Skawa river. It is the county seat of Sucha County. It has been in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999; p ...
, Poland *
Kazlų Rūda Kazlų Rūda () is a city in Lithuania. It is located north from Marijampolė. The city is surrounded by forests, but a railway line crosses the city and divides it into almost equal parts. Former Soviet Army Kazlų Rūda airbase is northeast o ...
, Lithuania *
Szypliszki Szypliszki is a village in Suwałki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Lithuania. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Szypliszki. It lies approximately north-east of ...
, Poland


Former twin towns

* Svetly, Russia *
Myadzyel Myadzyel ( be, Мядзел, ''Miadzieł'' ; russian: Мядель, ''Mjadelj''; pl, Miadzioł; lt, Medilas) is a city in the Minsk Region of Belarus. It is the centre of Myadzyel District. Myadzyel is located on the eastern shore of lake Miast ...
, Belarus On 24 March 2022, Frombork terminated its partnership with Russian and Belarusian cities as a response to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.


References

;Notes


External links


City information from the Mikołaj Koperknik Museum in Frombork

Hidden Europe magazine article "A Polish port: Frombork"
Issue 12 (January 2007), pp. 27–31 (ISSN 1860-6318)
Jewish community of Frombork
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Frombork