, Kurów Wielki () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gaworzyce, within

Polkowice County __NOTOC__ Polkowice County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passe ...

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 lies approximately east of Gaworzyce, north of

Polkowice Polkowice () is a town in south-western Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The town is the seat of Polkowice County and of Gmina Polkowice. Geography Polkowice is located in historic Lower Silesia, about northwest of Lubin ...

, and north-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 ...

History

The oldest known mention of the village is from 1266 when it was part of the

Duchy of Głogów The Duchy of Głogów (, ) or Duchy of Glogau () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, formed in course of the medieval fragmentation of Poland into smaller provincial duchies. Its capital was Głogów in Lower Silesia. It existed in 1177–1185 an ...

within the 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

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 ...

. At that time, was owned by Jan of Kurów, a member of the Kurowie

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

, and a Polish knight in service of

Konrad I, Duke of Głogów Konrad I of Głogów (; – 6 August 1273/74), a member of the Silesian Piasts, was Silesian duke of Głogów from 1249/50 until his death. Life Konrad was the fourth son of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia and High Duke of Poland from ...

. In the 18th century, the village was annexed by

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

. Following

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's defeat in 1945, the region was claimed by Poland by virtue of historic arguments.

Sights

Among the notable monuments in Kurów Wielki are a Gothic parish church of Saint John the Baptist from the 14th century, and a tower in the same style. There are tombstones and epitaphs built into the church walls and the wall around the church and the cemetery. A presbytery from the late 18th century is located next to the church.

Notable residents

Karl Arndt __NOTOC__ Karl Hermann Arndt (10 March 1892 – 30 December 1981) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Ge ...

(1892–1981), German general

References

Villages in Polkowice County {{Polkowice-geo-stub