Połaniec is a town in
Staszów County,
Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship
Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ( ), also known as Holy Cross Voivodeship, is a voivodeship (province) in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland. The province's capital and largest city is Kielce. The voivodeship takes its ...
,
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 ...
, with 8,406 inhabitants (2012). The town is in
Lesser Poland, and its history dates back to the early days of Polish statehood. It lies in the western part of the
Sandomierz Basin, a few kilometres north of the
Vistula
The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
, along the National Road Nr. 79, from
Bytom to
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
. The town has a railway station serving a secondary line, nr. 75 from
Rytwiany to Połaniec.
The
Połaniec Power Station, is one of the largest (1800 MW) coal-fired power plants in
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 ...
and, since 2012, one of the largest
biomass
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
plants in the world. It is located outside the town, in the nearby village of
Zawada.
History
The history of Połaniec dates back to the 11th century, when a
gord was built near the spot where the ''Czarna'' flows into the
Vistula
The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
. A settlement emerged in the 11th–12th centuries, with St. Catherine church in the vicinity of the gord. In 1241 Połaniec was completely destroyed in the
Mongol invasion of Poland, and near the local village of Tursko a battle took place with the invaders. Połaniec recovered, gaining town rights before 1264, and by 1340, it had some 400 residents. Ten years later, in 1350, King
Casimir III the Great ordered the town to move from its location on the ''Winna Góra'' hill to its present location. In the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, Połaniec was an important trade centre, located along the merchant route from
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
to
Sandomierz, and near the very important waterway, the
Vistula
The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
. It was a
royal town of the Kingdom of Poland, administratively located in the Sandomierz County in the
Sandomierz Voivodeship in the
Lesser Poland Province.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Połaniec was burned to the ground by the
Crimean Tatars, so that King
Zygmunt Stary lowered the residents' taxes. In 1526 the town was once again in a conflagration. In the mid-16th century, a town hall, funded by
hetman Jan Tarnowski was erected in Połaniec. At the beginning of the 17th century, a hospital was built. Following the
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...
in 1772, Połaniec suddenly became a border town of Poland, when the Austrian province of
Galicia was created. Establishing a border along the Vistula slowed economic development in Połaniec. In 1794 the town was one of centres of the
Kościuszko Uprising: it was the scene of the
Proclamation of Połaniec on 7 May 1794. During the
Third Partition of Poland in 1795 the town was annexed by
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. After the Polish victory in the
Austro-Polish War
The Austro-Polish War or Polish-Austrian War was a part of the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 (a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and allied states). In this war, Polish forces of ...
of 1809, it was part of the Polish
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...
. After the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it became part of
Russian-controlled Congress Poland
Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
. On 1 June 1869, as a punishment for the
January Uprising, it lost its town privileges. At that time, its population was around 2,000. While in the
Kielce Voivodeship during the
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...
Połaniec suffered badly in the
1934 floods. Połaniec had a large Jewish population, who were murdered in the
Holocaust by the German occupiers 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 ...
. In 1939, the
Polish resistance organized a collection and shipping point for aid packages for
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
...
who had lost their homes and possessions in other regions, i.e. those arrested or
expelled by the Germans and those fleeing
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
-occupied eastern Poland. A smuggling point for
Polish underground press was based in the town.

In the 1970s, the ''Tadeusz Kościuszko Power Plant'' was built, and in 1980, Połaniec regained its town rights.
Demography
According to the 2011 Poland census, there were 8,227 people residing in Połaniec, of whom 49.6% were male and 50.4% were female. In the town, the population was distributed such that 18.6% under the age of 18, 40.9% from 18 to 44, 31.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 or older.
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text:Połaniec in 2010
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Figure 1. Population pyramid of town in 2010 – by age group and sex
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Połaniec is
twinned with:
*
Étoile-sur-Rhône, France (2004)
*
Šalčininkai, Lithuania (2001)
*
Stará Ľubovňa, Slovakia (1999)
*
Svaliava, Ukraine (2005)
*
Viggiano, Italy (2001)
*
Vonitsa, Greece (2001)
References
External links
Polish official population figures 2006
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship
Populated riverside places in Poland
Staszów County
Holocaust locations in Poland