Twardogóra
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Twardogóra (pronounced , german: Festenberg) is a historic
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
in
Oleśnica County __NOTOC__ Oleśnica County ( pl, powiat oleśnicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local govern ...
, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western
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 ...
. It is the seat of the administrative district ( gmina) called
Gmina Twardogóra __NOTOC__ Gmina Twardogóra is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Oleśnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Twardogóra, which lies approximately north of Oleśnica, and north-e ...
. It lies approximately north of
Oleśnica Oleśnica (pronounced ; german: Oels; szl, Ôleśnica) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, within the Wrocław metropolitan area. It is the administrative seat of Oleśnica County and also of the rural district of ...
, and north-east 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 ...
. As of 2019, the town has a population of 6,692. It is 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 ...
.


History


Middle Ages

The beginnings of Twardogóra go back to the times of Polish rule under the first Piast dynasty. It was then a trade settlement connected to the trade route from
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 ...
to
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
. It was inhabited by
Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...
, descendants of the Silesians tribe, and from the 12th century also settlers from other countries, especially from the German states, came to Twardogóra. The modern name of the town is said to have been created during the
First Mongol invasion of Poland The Mongol Invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the Battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from fragmented Poland and their allies, led by Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia. ...
in 1241. The inhabitants of the settlement gave the Mongols a hard resistance and hence the name, which means in Polish "Hard Mountain". Its name also covers terrain topography (Twarda Góra).
Town rights 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 tradition ...
were given to Twardogóra by Henry III, Duke of Głogów on August 1, 1293. Although Polish, the town was first mentioned as ''Vestenberg'' in 1293. From the beginning of the 14th century, Twardogóra was part of the Duchy of Oleśnica, which remained under the rule of the Polish Piast dynasty until 1492, although as a
fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
of the
Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...
.


Early modern period

Residents of the city remembered the unpleasant experiences of the
Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...
in the late 15th century building a defensive structure. A hundred years later a castle was built there. In 1526, Twardogóra and the Duchy of Oleśnica (Oels) came under the suzerainty of the Habsburg monarchy. At that time, duke John, from the
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
noble
Podiebrad family The Bohemian Poděbrady family ( cz, Páni z Poděbrad) was a noble family in Bohemia, arising from the Lords of Kunštát. After Boček of Kunštát (d. 1373) had acquired the Lordship of Poděbrady by marriage, he called himself "Boček of Ku ...
, introduced
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
in 1538. It is presumed that at that time there was already a church (lower) in the city, which was thoroughly renovated in 1587. The Duchy of Oels from 1647 was under the rule of dukes of
Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
. During its rule, Twardogóra flourished. Change in Twardogóra was foremost contributed to by Dutches Eleonora Karolina Wirtemberska (1676–1712). She rebuilt and expanded the town's castle into a Baroque palace. She also took care of the health of the people, the development of the craft, trade and education, as well as the development of charities. In the years 1729–1738 the church was rebuilt giving it its present shape. In 1742 Silesia became part of 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''. ...
and the town came under Prussian suzerainty, remaining part of the Duchy of Oleśnica. In 1743 Henryk L. von Reichenbach brought the town hardwood, and the town joined the newly created state country in Goszcz a year later. In 1786 the town was inhabited by 1175 people, among whom the most prosperous at the time were the weavers.


19th and 20th centuries

At the beginning of the 19th century, two new cemeteries were set up outside the city, separate for Protestants and Catholics, and the old church cemetery was demolished. Catholics built a church in 1869 near the new market. In 1873, a fire destroyed the evangelical church, which was rebuilt three years later in Gothic Revival style. From the middle of the 19th century Twardogóra began to acquire industrial character. Henryk Piirschel founded a mechanical weaving factory in 1852, and Henry Lichtenberg began industrial furniture production. Until 1945 the town was 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 ...
. The demographic development of the town in the 19th century (in 1885 – 2202 people, and after the merger with the Old Twardogóra in 1910 – 3351 people) caused an increase in the town's infrastructure. Before the
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 ...
, a credit bank (1901), a printing house (1907), a court and detention center (1902), a town hall, a cemetery chapel (1906), a town hall (1912) and a new water supply (1901) and electrification of the city was conducted (1910). In 1944, the town was home to 4500 people, who primarily engaged in craft, trade and services. The town had, among other things, an agricultural and general school, two cinemas, a hospital, a child's home and extensive gastronomy. German rule ended in Twardogóra on January 23, 1945, when it came under Polish administration. As a result of
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 opposing ...
, the town was transferred to Poland in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement.


Notable people

* Salomon Plessner (1797–1883), German Jewish translator and preacher *
Ludwig Laqueur Ludwig Laqueur (July 25, 1839 – April 20, 1909) was a German ophthalmologist born in Festenberg, Silesia. He was the father of historian Richard Laqueur (1881–1959). He studied medicine in Breslau and Berlin, earning his doctorate in 1860. ...
(1839–1909), German ophthalmologist * Paul Grützner (1847–1919), German physiologist * Martin Pohl (1930–2007), German poet and playwright *
Hagen Kleinert Hagen Kleinert (born 15 June 1941) is professor of theoretical physics at the Free University of Berlin, Germany (since 1968)Honorary Doctorat the West University of Timișoaraandat thin Bishkek. He is alsHonorary Memberof th For his contributio ...
(born 1941), German physicist


Gallery

File:SM Twardogóra Ratuszowa12 (0) ID 596479.jpg, Old townhouses at the Market Square File:SM Twardogóra pałac - brama wjazdowa (1) ID 596478.jpg, Palace Gate File:Posąg Herkulesa.jpg, Statue of Hercules File:SM Twardogóra kościół Św Trójcy i Matki Boskiej (0) ID 704748.jpg, Half-timbered Church of the Holy Trinity and Mary Immaculate File:PL-DS, pow. oleśnicki, gm. Twardogóra, Twardogóra, ul. Bolesława Krzywoustego; Kościół ewangelicki p.w. Świętej Trójcy i Matki Boskiej; A-1004; 02.jpg, Holy Trinity Church; Jakinosin family sandstone epitaph, dating back to the late 17th century File:SM Twardogóra kościół Wspomożenia Wiernych (1) ID 596477.jpg, Basilica of Our Lady of Support of the Faithful File:Dworzec Kolejowy w Twardogórze.jpg, Train station File:Twardogóra, Remiza OSP w Twardogórze - fotopolska.eu (89507).jpg, Fire Station File:Twardogóra, "Poczta Polska" S.A. Urząd Pocztowy w Twardogórze - fotopolska.eu (89510).jpg, Post Office File:MOs810 WG 29 2017 Opolskie Zakamarki (little church in Twardogora) (2).jpg, Church of the Ascension of Christ File:2rondo Twardogóra.png, Roundabout in Twardogóra


References


External links


Official website

Old postcard of Festenberg

Jewish Community in Twardogóra
on Virtual Shtetl {{DEFAULTSORT:Twardogora Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Oleśnica County