Bełżyce

Infobox Settlement
name = Bełżyce


imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Town center
image_shield = POL Bełżyce COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lublin Voivodeship
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Lublin County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Bełżyce
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Ryszard Góra
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1417-1869, 1958
area_total_km2 = 23.46
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 7054
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 51 | latm = 11 | lats = | latNS = N | longd = 22 | longm = 16 | longs = | longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 24-200
area_code = +48 81
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = LUB
website = http://www.belzyce.pl Bełżyce [IPA-pl|b|e|U|'|ż|y|c|e] is a town in eastern Poland, in the Lublin Voivodeship, in Lublin County, and about 20 km to the west of the city of Lublin.

History

Granted city rights in 1417, these rights were lost in 1869 in the aftermath of the failed January Uprising against the Russian Tsar. During the Protestant Reformation, through the 16th and 17th centuries, Bełżyce was a center for the Polish brethren, and a destination for reformist conventions and synodal gatherings. During the German occupation in Second World War 3500 residents of the city were killed or otherwise disappeared, a full 60 % of the population. Many, mostly Jewish, victims of the Majdanek Nazi concentration and extermination camp are buried at the Bełżyce cemetery.

Bełżyce was granted city status again in 1958, when the population had sufficiently recovered in numbers. Today, the town is a minor agricultural center, and home to a factory that produces creamery equipment. It is also the intersection of several highways.

Historic Sites

* A castle that was built in 1417, captured by the Cossack forces of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1648, and, since Second World War, has been used as a dairy farm.
* A late Renaissance church.

References

External links

* [http://www.belzyce.pl/ Official town website]
* [http://mapa.szukacz.pl/?x=728682&y=372417&m=Be%b3%bfyce&w=lubelskie&p=lubelski&g=Be%b3%bfyce&z=3 Map from mapa.szukacz.pl]
* [http://maps.google.com/?ll=51.178267,22.280617&spn=0.145279,0.322037&t=h&om=1 Satellite photo from Google Maps]