Everything about Zgorzelec totally explained
Zgorzelec [] is a town in south-western
Poland with 33,278 inhabitants (2004). It lies in
Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former
Jelenia Góra Voivodeship). It is the seat of
Zgorzelec County, and also of the smaller district of
Gmina Zgorzelec (although it isn't part of the territory of the latter, as the town is an urban
gmina in its own right). Zgorzelec is located on the
Lusatian Neisse river, on the Polish-German border adjoining the German town of
Görlitz, of which it constituted the eastern part up to 1945.
History
Since before 1945 the modern-day towns of Zgorzelec and
Görlitz were a single entity, their history up to that point is shared.
The date of the town's foundation is unknown. It was first mentioned in 1071. At that time Görlitz was a small village named
Gorelic in the region of
Lusatia, which soon after became a part of
Bohemia. In the
13th century the village gradually turned into a town. It became rich due to its location on the
Via Regia, an ancient and medieval trade road.
In the following centuries it was a wealthy member of the
Six-City League of Upper Lusatia, consisting of the six Lusatian cities
Bautzen, Görlitz,
Kamenz,
Lauban,
Löbau and
Zittau.
The town of
Gorlice in southern
Poland was founded during the reign of
Casimir the Great in
1354 by colonists from Görlitz.
After suffering for years in the
Thirty Years' War, the region of Upper Lusatia (including Görlitz) passed to
Saxony (1635). In 1815, after the
Napoleonic Wars, the
Congress of Vienna awarded Görlitz to
Prussia. Thus the city was a part of the Prussian province of
Silesia from 1815 until 1945.
Following
World War II, with the establishment of the
Oder-Neisse line as the Polish-
East German border, Görlitz (lying on the Neisse) was divided between the two countries. The German part retained the name Görlitz, while the Polish part became Zgorzelec.
In the
1950s a large number of
Greek immigrants, mainly communist
partisans defeated in the
Greek Civil War, were settled there. The
Greek community of Zgorzelec was intrumental in the building of Ss. Constantine and Helen
Orthodox Church in 2002. The
Treaty of Zgorzelec was signed in the city between
Poland and
East Germany in 1950.
Since the fall of
communism in 1989, Zgorzelec and Görlitz have developed a close political relationship.
Two of the numerous bridges over the
Neisse river that had been blown up by retreating
German forces in
World War II have been rebuilt, reconnecting the two towns with one bus line. There is also common urban management and annual common sessions of both town councils. In 2006 the towns jointly applied to be the
European Capital of Culture in 2010. It was hoped that the jury would be convinced by the concept of Polish-German cooperation, but the award fell to
Essen, with Görlitz/Zgorzelec in second place.
Sports
Further Information
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