Kamieniec Ząbkowicki () is a town in Ząbkowice Śląskie 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. It is the seat of the administrative district (

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

) called Gmina Kamieniec Ząbkowicki. The town is an important railroad junction, located on the main line which links

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 ...

with

Kłodzko Kłodzko (; ; ; ) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko County (and of the ru ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. In Kamieniec, this route crosses with the west-east connection from Jaworzyna Śląska to

Kędzierzyn-Koźle Kędzierzyn-Koźle () is a city in south-western Poland, the administrative center of Kędzierzyn-Koźle County. With 58,899 inhabitants as of 2021, it is the second most-populous city in the Opole Voivodeship. Founded from the merger of the prev ...

. It lies approximately south-east of

Ząbkowice Śląskie Ząbkowice Śląskie ( ; ) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Ząbkowice Śląskie County and of a local municipality called Gmina Ząbkowice Śląskie. The town lies approximately south of the ...

, and south of the regional capital

. The village has a population of 4,200. The architectural and landscape ensemble, containing the local landmarks, the abbey and

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

, is a Historic Monument of Poland.

History

The name of the town comes from the Polish word ''kamień'', which means "stone". It was mentioned in the oldest Polish chronicle ''

Gesta principum Polonorum The (; "''Deeds of the Princes of the Poles''") is the oldest known medieval chronicle documenting the history of Poland from the legendary times until 1113. Written in Latin by an anonymous author, it was most likely completed between 1112 an ...

'' from the early 12th century. The place is known for the former Kamieniec Abbey, established in 1209 as an Augustinian

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

by Bishop Wawrzyniec of Wrocław at the site of a former castle of Bretislaus II of Bohemia. It was then part of the Silesian Duchy of

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

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 ...

. In 1247 it became a filial monastery of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Lubiąż Abbey Lubiąż Abbey (; ) is a former Cistercian monastery in Lubiąż, in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of southwestern Poland, located about northwest of Wrocław. With a main facade measuring , Lubiąż is one of the largest abbeys ever constructe ...

. King

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

hid here from

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

troops on 27 February 1741 during the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War () was a war between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia and Habsburg monarchy, Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. The ...

. Following the war, the village fell under

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

suzerainty.

Secularized In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

in 1810 by order of King

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...

, the estates of Kamieniec (then under the Germanized name ''Kamenz'') were acquired by Wilhelmine of Prussia, wife of King

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

. Between 1838 and 1873 their daughter

Princess Marianne of the Netherlands Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau (''Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Charlotte Marianne''; 9 May 1810 – 29 May 1883) was the youngest child of King William I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of th ...

and her husband Prince Albert of Prussia had a new palace built in a

Neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style according to the plans of

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

. In 1871 the settlement became part of Germany, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Nazi Germany carried out murders of mentally ill children by

involuntary euthanasia Involuntary euthanasia, typically regarded as a type of murder, occurs when euthanasia is performed on a person who would be able to provide informed consent, but does not, either because they do not want to die, or because they were not asked. I ...

in the local monastery building (see: ''

Aktion T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...

''). In the final stages of the war, the palace was plundered and set on fire by the occupying

Soviet 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 Peop ...

. Following the war, in 1945, the village became again part of Poland, and the adjective ''Ząbkowicki'' (after the nearby town and county seat of

) was added to the name to distinguish it from other settlements of the same name, which are very common throughout Poland. The palace was restored in 1995. In July 2020, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki received

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 ...

with effect from 2021.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is Zamek Kamieniec Ząbkowicki. It competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

Kościół p.w. Wniebowzięcia NMP w Kamieńcu Ząbkowickim (Margarettize)..JPG, Gothic-Baroque Church of the Assumption Kamieniec Zabkowicki klasztor.jpg, Abbey building, now the Polish state archive Kamieniec-Schloss-21.jpg, Palace park Kamieniec Ząbkowicki-pomnik papieża.JPG, Monument of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Surroundings

* Gola Dzierżoniowska Castle * Medieval town of

Niemcza Niemcza () is a town in Dzierżoniów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Niemcza. It lies on the Ślęza River, approximately east of Dzierżoniów, a ...

* Cistercian monastery at Henryków *

Wojsławice Arboretum Wojsławice Arboretum is an arboretum, located in Wojsławice, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Wojsławice, Dzierżoniów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It occupies an area of 62 hectare, ha. Since 1988, Arboretum Wojs� ...

References

External links

*
Kamieniec Palace
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Ząbkowice Śląskie County