Oleśnica


Oleśnica is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Oleśnica County and also of the rural district of Gmina Oleśnica, although it is not part of the territory of the latter, the town being an urban gmina in its own right.
The town is famed for its large 16th-century castle, which has previously been the seat of several dukes and lords. The castle's inner courtyard arcades, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, are iconic in the region.

Name

The town's name comes from Polish olsza ; Olcha is an Old Slavic word for this common plant and tree. On 22 February 1255 the Silesian duke Henry III the White, son of the Polish High Duke Henry II the Pious, vested civitas nostra Olsnicz with town privileges.

Geography

The town is situated in the Silesian Lowlands east of the Trzebnickie Hills, part of the historical region of Lower Silesia. Located about northeast of the Silesian capital Wrocław, it has been a stop on an important trade route to the Greater Poland region, Kalisz, Łódź and Warsaw; it had close ties with Kraków via Namysłów in the east. It was the site of an important printing press and gymnasium. From the 13th century, it had a coin mint.
The town quarters are Centrum, Serbinów, Lucień, Lucień Osiedle, Wądoły, Rataje and Zielone Ogrody.

History

The Piast castle with a nearby abbey and trading settlement was first mentioned in an 1189 deed. It was part of fragmented Poland under the Piast dynasty. In 1255, it was granted town rights by Duke Henry III the White. From the 13th century onwards, the area was largely settled by Germans in the course of the Ostsiedlung. In 1294 Oleśnica became part of the Duchy of Głogów and in 1313 it became capital of the Duchy of Oleśnica, just partitioned from Głogów. From 1320/21 the former castellany served as the residence of the Piast duke Konrad I of Oleśnica; his son Duke Konrad II the Gray also inherited Koźle. The Duchy of Oleśnica, a Bohemian fief since 1329, was ruled from the town until the 1492 death of Duke Konrad X the White, last of the local Piasts.
, published in Oleśnica in 1687
The duchy was sold to Duke Henry I of Münsterberg, son of the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady. His grandson Duke John of Münsterberg-Oels established a gymnasium at Oleśnica in 1530. When the Czech Podiebrad family became extinct in 1647, town and duchy were inherited by the Swabian dukes of Württemberg, and in 1792 by the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
In the 17th century, the Polish-German language border ran close to Oleśnica, including the town to the territory dominated by the Polish language. Polish religious writers Adam Gdacjusz and Jerzy Bock published their works in Oleśnica.
As a result of the First Silesian War the Duchy of Oels came under suzerainty of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742. Following administrative reform in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars, Oels became the seat of Landkreis Oels in the Province of Silesia, remaining capital of the Duchy of Oels. In 1884 the duchy was incorporated into Prussia, itself part of Germany since the 1871 Prussian-led unification of Germany.
After World War I, Oels was included within the Province of Lower Silesia. It was heavily damaged by the Red Army in 1945 during World War II, having approximately 60-80% of its buildings destroyed. The city was placed in Poland's borders after the Potsdam Conference and its official name became Oleśnica. The remaining German-speaking population was subsequently expelled and resettled with Poles many of whom were expelled from Eastern Poland annexed in 1945 by the Soviet Union. The majority of monuments in the Old Town have been rebuilt since the 1960s.

Sports

Football club Pogoń Oleśnica is based in the town. It played at the Polish second division in the 1990s.

Notable people

Oleśnica is twinned with: