Węgierska Górka (Literally Polish for "Hungarian Hill") 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 ...

Żywiec County __NOTOC__ Żywiec County ( pl, powiat żywiecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Pol ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

, in the historic province of

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 ...

. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called

Gmina Węgierska Górka __NOTOC__ Gmina Węgierska Górka is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Żywiec County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the village of Węgierska Górka, which lies approximately south-west of Żywiec and south of ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Żywiec Żywiec () (german: Saybusch) is a town in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). Between 1975 and 1998, it was located within the Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship, but has since become part of the Silesian Voivodeship.It is the capital of Ż ...

and south of the regional capital Katowice. It has a population of 4,206.

Location

Węgierska Górka is located among the hills of the

Żywiec Beskids The Żywiec Beskids ( pl, Beskid Żywiecki) is a mountain range in the Outer Western Carpathians in southern Poland. It is the second highest range in Poland, after the Tatra Mountains. The highest peak is Babia Góra (1,725 m) and Pilsko Pi ...

, on the

Soła The Soła () is a river in southern Poland, a right tributary of the Vistula. Soła originates in the Western Beskids mountain range near the border with Slovakia. It is made up of the confluence of several small creeks at the village of Rajcza. ...

river. For most of its existence, the village, together with Żywiec, was administratively and culturally tied with

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 ...

and Lesser Poland. Until 1975, it belonged to Kraków Voivodeship. In 1975 - 1999, it was part of

Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

. Węgierska Górka is located on ''National Road Nr 69'' from Bielsko-Biała to the border with Slovakia. It has a rail station, on a line from Katowice to Skalite.

History

The village was first mentioned in documents in 1477, when Polish King

Kazimierz Jagiellończyk Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the ...

argued with Hungarian King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

over the shape of the border between the two nations. In 1706,

Franciszek Wielopolski Count Franciszek Wielopolski (died 1732) was a Polish noble (szlachcic). He was the son of Deputy and Chancellor, Grand Chancellor Jan Wielopolski and Konstancja Krystyna Komorowska. He married Teresa Magdalena Tarło and in 1711 Anna Lubomirska, ...

opened here a

folwark ''Folwark''; german: Vorwerk; uk, Фільварок; ''Filwarok''; be, Фальварак; ''Falwarak''; lt, Palivarkas is a Polish word for a primarily serfdom-based farm and agricultural enterprise (a type of ''latifundium''), often very ...

, calling it Węgierska Górka. In 1838 Adam Wielopolski founded here ironworks, and two years later, a blast furnace was completed. At that time, Węgierska Górka belonged to the Austrian province of Galicia, which was the result of the Partitions of Poland. After a few years, the ''Węgierska Górka Ironworks'' became one of the largest such enterprises in Galicia. In 1884, Węgierska Górka received a rail connection with other locations, and the village quickly grew in size and population. In the Second Polish Republic, Węgierska Górka became a popular winter sports center, and a mountain spa. In September 1939, the village was the site of the

Battle of Węgierska Górka The Battle of Węgierska Górka was a two-day-long defence of a Poland, Polish fortified area in south of Silesia during the opening stages of the Invasion of Poland of 1939. Although the Polish position was not completed and only five bunkers w ...

. Polish defensive fortifications, built before

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 ...

, can still be found and visited here. In 1961 the population of the village was 2,215. A new school was opened on 23 July 1961, and in the late 1960s / early 1970s, a whole district of blocks of flats was built.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegierska Gorka Villages in Żywiec County Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)