Krościenko nad Dunajcem is a village in 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 populou ...

situated in the

Nowy Targ County Nowy Targ County ( pl, powiat nowotarski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

since 1999 (previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship, from 1975 to 1998). Located near Poland's 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 ...

, it is approximately east of

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mounta ...

and south-east of the regional capital

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

. Town rights were given to Krościenko by

Kazimierz Wielki Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...

in 1348.

History

Krościenko is one of the oldest settlements in Polish part of the

Pieniny Mountains The Pieniny (sometimes also the PieninsSzafer, Władysław. 2013. ''The Vegetation of Poland: International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology''. Warsaw: Pergamon Press, pp. 156, 388. or the Pienin Mountains,Griffiths, Graham C. D. ...

. Its history dates back to the late 12th century, when it was a village serving the now non-existing Pieniny Castle (see also

Dunajec river castles The Dunajec river castles is a chain of thirteen medieval castles (some of which do not exist any longer), built in southern Lesser Poland, along the Dunajec river. The castles protected the border between the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Hu ...

). In 1348,

granted

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

to Krościenko, and shaped the village into a medieval town, with a market square and street grid. Royal decree, giving the charter to Krościenko does not exist, as it was burned in a

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Huss ...

raid in 1433. At that time the town was named Crosna in documents. Due to convenient location along a merchant route to Hungary, Krościenko prospered. In 1350, a Roman Catholic parish was established here, and in 1565, a parish school was opened. The period known as

Polish Golden Age The Polish Golden Age was the Renaissance period in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, roughly corresponding to the period of rule of the King Sigismund I the Old and his son, Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellonian Dynasty monar ...

ended in the 17th century, when Krościenko was affected by several wars (see

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

) and rebellions (see Kostka-Napierski Uprising). As a result, by mid-18th century Krościenko was almost deserted. In 1770, Krościenko was occupied by the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. The town became property of Austrian treasury, which in 1822 sold it to the Gross family. New owners noticed local mineral waters, and decided to turn Krościenko into a spa, with guest houses and baths. In 1934, Krościenko was officially recognized as a spa. In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

, it became a very popular tourist resort, located in close proximity to Pieniny National Park. Nevertheless, the number of permanent residents was so low that in 1932 Krościenko lost its town charter. In 1973, Krościenko was joined with nearby

Szczawnica Szczawnica is a resort town in Nowy Targ County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. As of June 30, 2007, its population was 7,378. Szczawnica has been a well-known resort town since the mid nineteenth century. Due to the presence o ...

, and the town of Szczawnica–Krościenko was created. In 1982, this idea was abandoned, due to protests of residents.

Tourism

Numerous tourist attractions include Pieniny National Park Museum, the 14th-century church rebuilt in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style in 1589, and in summer, walk trails in the Pieniny mountains. There are holiday cottages and paths for mountain biking both advanced and easy. In winter, ski lift at Szczawnica-Palenica is available at 6 km distance.

External links

History of Krościenko

official site of Gmina Krościenko nad Dunajcem

Jewish Community in Krościenko nad Dunajcem
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroscienko Villages in Nowy Targ County Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)

History

Tourism

See also

External links