Świeradów-Zdrój (; ) is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

in Lubań County,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

, in south-western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

near the border with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. The town is located in the Kwisa valley of the

Jizera Mountains Jizera Mountains (), or Izera Mountains (; ), are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera (river), Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of the Smrk (Jizera), ...

, a part of the

Sudetes The Sudetes ( ), also known as the Sudeten Mountains or Sudetic Mountains, is a geomorphological subprovince of the Bohemian Massif province in Central Europe, shared by the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They consist mainly of mountain rang ...

range. It lies approximately south of

Lubań Lubań (; ), sometimes called Lubań Śląski (; , ); is a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in southwest Poland. It is the administrative seat of Lubań County and also of the smaller Gmina Lubań (although it is not part of the territory ...

, and west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. Świeradów received its

town privileges 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 traditio ...

in 1946. As at 2019, it has a population of 4,147.

History

First mentioned in 1524, the settlement was probably founded at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century in the Lower Silesian

Duchy of Jawor Duchy of Jawor (, ) was one of the duchies of Silesia and medieval Poland established in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica. It was ruled by the Silesian Piasts, with its capital at Jawor in Lower Silesia. It was the southwesternmost ...

, the southwesternmost duchy of fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

-ruled

. The oldest record concerning Flinsberg, which in fact related to the tavern "Fegebeutel" from which the local settlement of shepherds and lumbermen was named, comes from 1337, while ''Flinsberg'' was first documented in 1559. It was located on the eastern slope of the Smrk massif, at the tripoint of historic

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

with the

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n and

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...

n regions. The exceptional properties of the Flinsberg

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s were suspected as early as the 16th century. In 1572, the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

doctor Leonard Thurneysser, private physician of Elector John George of Brandenburg wrote for the first time about the discovery of the extraordinary features of the local healing waters. They were described by the Protestant reformer

Caspar Schwenckfeld Caspar (or Kaspar) Schwen(c)kfeld von Ossig () (1489 or 1490 – 10 December 1561) was a German theologian, writer, physician, naturalist, and preacher who became a Protestant Reformer and spiritualist. He was one of the earliest promoters ...

about 1600, and Fryderyk Luca also wrote about them in 1683 in his Silesian chronicle. The area was heavily devastated during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, at first by Imperial troops under General

Ottavio Piccolomini Ottavio Piccolomini, 1st Duke of Amalfi (11 November 1599 – 11 August 1656) was an Italian nobleman whose military career included service as a Spanish general and then as a field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire. Early life Piccolomini was ...

, then by Swedish forces in the course of the seize of nearby Gryf Castle (''Greiffenstein'') in Proszówka ('' Gräflich Neundorf''). A century later the land owners of the Schaffgotsch noble family established a special commission to gather scientific evidence and describe the healing effects of the Świeradów waters. The commission settled that the water “…agitates appetite, inhibits vomiting, eases anxiety states, stomach and liver illnesses”. The health resort started to develop in 1768 when the owners of land built the first spa house. The peak of health resort development occurred in the 1920s. Direct railway connection to

Mirsk Mirsk is a town in Lwówek Śląski County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Mirsk, close to the Czech border. It is situated on the upper Kwisa river north of ...

(then ''Friedeberg'') operating since 1909 opened Świeradów to the world and contributed to full prosperity of the spa town. Annexed by

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in the 18th century, from 1816 to 1945 the settlement belonged to the Löwenberg in Schlesien district (German: '' Landkreis Löwenberg in Schlessien''). In 1945 Bad Flinsberg was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and its German population expelled. As part of the

Republic of Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the health resort resumed its activity on 26 May 1946. Świeradów was also granted

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 ...

in 1946. The town was repopulated by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, most of whom were expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Its town limits were expanded in 1973, by incorporating the neighbouring village of as a new district.

Name

Świeradów-Zdrój has an exceptionally rich acquisition of names. This eventful history begins with the German name ''Fegebeutel'', which meant ‘a place where your purse will be cleaned’ (''Czyścisakwa'' in Polish). The name was given to the tavern situated here and the nearby settlement. Then, the name was changed to ''Flinsberg''. The origin of that word may be sought in the pantheon of pagan gods of Lusatians. One of them was Flins. In 1945, Bad Flinsberg became ''Wieniec-Zdrój''. It was the first name of that town in the Polish language after the war, coming from the Polish word ‘wieniec’ (wreath), related to hills surrounding the valley from all directions. The wreath consists of Vulture Mountain (829 m a.s.l.) in the east, Zajęcznik (595 m a.s.l.) in the north, Stóg Izerski (1107 m a.s.l.) in the south-west and Opaleniec (821 m a.s.l.) in the west. Finally, however, it was decided that the town will be called ''Świeradów-Zdrój'' – since 1946. The etymology of the name is ambiguous and two explanations can be found. One explanation says that the name derived from a combination of two words: świerk (

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

) and

radon Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only Rn has a sufficiently long half-life (3.825 days) for it to b ...

without which the spa would not exist, and the other one mentions Saint Andrew Świerad, who came here from

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

about the year 1000.

Balneotherapy and recreation

The spa house built in 1899 offers

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

, radon and

mud bath A mud bath is a therapeutic spa treatment that involves soaking in a bath of warm mud, often in a natural hot spring or geothermal pool. Mud baths have been used for centuries as a way to promote health and relaxation, and are still popular t ...

treatments of

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

and other adult diseases. In 2008, a gondola was opened as the fourth such ski lift in Poland improving the position of Świeradów as a winter ski resort. Świeradów Zdrój-Dom Zdrojowy.JPG, Spa house Świeradów Zdrój-Hala spacerowa w Domu Zdrojowym.JPG, Spa house hallway MARZENIE I Świeradów.jpg, ''Marzenie'' pension Cableway to Stog Izerski 2014 P02.JPG, Stóg Izerski gondola lift Świeradów Zdrój - pomnik tych którym zawdzięczamy wolność i niepodległość naszej Ojczyzny.jpg, Monument commemorating the freedom and independence of Poland Zespół kościoła Podwyższenia Krzyża Św. (Świeradów-Zdrój).jpg, Exaltation of the Holy Cross church

Twin towns – sister cities

Świeradów-Zdrój is twinned with: * Bílý Potok, Czech Republic *

Jilemnice Jilemnice (; ) is a town in Semily District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monu ...

, Czech Republic * Jindřichovice pod Smrkem, Czech Republic * Lázně Libverda, Czech Republic * Nové Město pod Smrkem, Czech Republic *

Odder Odder is a town in Jutland, Denmark. The town is the seat of Odder municipality, and is the biggest town in the municipality. It is located 20 km south of Aarhus and 16 km south-east of Skanderborg. Odder is part of Business Region Aar ...

, Denmark *

Seifhennersdorf Seifhennersdorf (; ) is a town in the district of Görlitz (district), Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the border with the Czech Republic, and the Czech towns of Rumburk and Varnsdorf lie across the border to the ...

, Germany

References

External links