Jelenia Góra

For other places with the same name, see Jelenia Góra (disambiguation).

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Coordinates: 50°54′12″N 15°44′4″E / 50.90333°N 15.73444°E / 50.90333; 15.73444

Jelenia Góra
City
Market Square in Jelenia Góra
Flag Symbol
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lower Silesian
County (Powiat)	city county
Elevation	350 m (1,148 ft)
Coordinates	50°54′12″N 15°44′4″E / 50.90333°N 15.73444°E / 50.90333; 15.73444
Area	109.2 km2 (42 sq mi)
Population	84,306 (2010)
Density	772 / km2 (1,999 / sq mi)
Founded	10th century
- Town rights	1288
Mayor	Marcin Zawiła
Timezone	CET (UTC+1)
- summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	58-500 to 58-588
Area code	+48 075
Car plates	DJ
Website: http://www.jeleniagora.pl/

Jelenia Góra [jɛˈlɛɲa ˈɡura] ( listen) (Czech: Jelení Hora, originally Hiršberk, German: Hirschberg im Riesengebirge, Latin: Hyrsbergensium) is a city in Lower Silesia, south-western Poland. The name of the city means "deer mountain" in Polish, Czech and German. It is close to the Krkonoše mountain range running along the Polish-Czech border – ski resorts such as Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba can be found 10–15 km far from the town.

Jelenia Góra is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of Jelenia Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998). The city constitutes a separate urban gmina and city county (powiat), as well as being the seat of Jelenia Góra County (which surrounds but does not include the city). As at 2009 the population of Jelenia Góra is 84,564.

History

The city officially dates back its origins to the legendary founding of the settlement by Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1108,^[1] and in 2008 celebrated 900 anniversary of its existence^[2]

Jelenia Góra is also mentioned as being used by Polish ruler Bolesław Krzywousty as a base for his campaigns against the Czechs in 1110.^[3]

Accounts by other authors (Weczerka, Badstübner, Franke, Popp, von Winterfeld) date the location of the city to 1281, by the Polish duke Bolesław Rogatka, and connect it to the Ostsiedlung.^[4][5][6] In 1281 the settlement was first mentioned as Hyrzberc, and in 1288 in Latin as Hyrsbergensium.^[7] When the Silesian Piasts lost inheritance and Agnes of Habsburg, the last dutchess of (Świdnica-Jawor) died in 1392, the city passed to Bohemia, ruled by the House of Luxembourg.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The city was inherited by Habsburg Austria in 1526, two years after the town adopted the Protestant faith. A Protestant school was built in 1566. In 1560 a fire destroyed large parts of the city and stopped the economic development, which until then was characterized by linen weaving. The city recovered when Joachim Girnth, a shoemaker on a return journey from Holland, introduced veil weaving. The first "light veils" were offered in 1625, and five years later the city received an imperial privilege by Ferdinand II for these veils.

During the Thirty Years' War the city suffered badly. Hirschberg was beleaguered by troops of both parties, paid high contributions, and during a siege in 1634 the city burned down again. Two more sieges followed in 1640 and 1641. The town needed several years to recover. One reason for the new boost was the creation of a merchant society 1658, which secured Hirschbergs position as the most important center of linen and veil trade in the Silesian mountains during the 17th and 18th century.

The Protestants of the city were oppressed during the Counter-Reformation, but the second Treaty of Altranstädt, which allowed to establish a Protestant community center and a church outside the medieval city walls, brought relief. Great sacrifices by the merchant society, especially its most prominent member Christian Menzel, made the construction of a large church, modeled after Church of Catherine in Stockholm, possible. The cemetery of the church was the preferred burial place for most merchant families (largely destroyed after 1945).

Hirschberg was annexed with Lower Silesia by the Kingdom of Prussia during the Silesian Wars. The city was again partly destroyed, had to pay contributions and was seized several times. The detachment from Austria and the new border in the mountains to the south badly damaged the economy as the merchants lost a large part of their customers. Although Prussia took on substantial efforts to revive the economy they never recovered completely and finally lost their position during the industrial revolution.

In 1871 the town became part of the German Empire upon the Prussian-led unification of Germany, as one of the largest towns in the Province of Silesia. The Deutsche Riesengebirgsverein (German Giant Mountains Club), an organization to protect the environment of the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše) and to promote tourism, was founded in 1880 by Theodor Donat and 47 other dignitaries of the region. It was the seventh oldest German mountaineering club with up to 18,000 members and 95 local groups, some of them even in Hamburg, the Rhineland or New York^{[citation needed]}. In 1912–14 the Riesengebirgsmuseum, a museum about the mountains and the history of Hirschberg and the region, was opened by the club. It was closed in 1945 together with the Riesengebirgsverein, whose members were expelled^{[citation needed]}. The museum was rearranged in 1950 and opened again in 1953. The club still exists in Germany, although its mission is obsolete.

After World War I, the town became part of the Province of Lower Silesia in 1919, and in 1922 became a separate city. During the Nazi era under the regime of Adolf Hitler, a subcamp of KZ Gross- Rosen was located in Hirschberg.

Saint Cross Church

Cyprian Kamil Norwid Theatre

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the town was placed under Polish administration according to the decisions of the Potsdam Conference, and became officially known by its Polish name of Jelenia Góra, which was first recorded in 1882.^[7] The remaining German inhabitants were expelled westward^[12] and replaced with Polish settlers. The city was not destroyed in the war.^[13] After the war the new Polish authorities dismantled the Old Town until 1965^[14] and destroyed the cemetery of the Protestant church.^[15] Afterwards the buildings around the market place were reconstructed in more simple forms.^[16] The town was expanded through the incoporation of surrounding localities, including the spa town of Cieplice (German: Bad Warmbrunn) in 1976, now the district of Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój.

Politics

Jelenia Góra-Legnica constituency

Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Jelenia Gora-Legnica constituency in Polish parliamentary election, 2005 included: Ślusarczyk Piotr, LPR, Witek Elżbieta, PiS, Lipiński Adam, PiS, Zubowski Jan, PiS, Madziarczyk Tadeusz, PiS, Schetyna Grzegorz, PO, Sawicka Beata, PO, Cybulski Piotr, PO, Szmajdziński Jerzy, SLD, Litwin Czesław, Samoobrona RP, Costa Hubert, Samoobrona RP, and Zbrzyzny Ryszard, SLD.

Transmitter

In 1957 in Jelenia Góra a broadcasting station for medium wave was inaugurated at ul. Sudecka 55. Until 1967 it used a 47-metre-tall wooden tower, which may be the only wooden radio tower built in Poland after 1945. In 1967 it was replaced by a 72-metre-tall steel mast. Since the shutdown of the medium wave transmitter in 1994, this mast has been used for FM broadcasting.^[17]

Sports

• Vitaral Jelfa Jelenia Góra - women's handball team playing in Polish Ekstraklasa Women's Handball League: 3rd place in 2003/2004 season.
• KPR Jelenia Góra - Women's handball team playing in Polish Ekstraklasa Women's Handball League and in Polish First League

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

• Bautzen, Germany
• Cervia, Italy
• Erftstadt, Germany
• Randers, Denmark
• Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
• Tyler, Texas, USA
• Valkeakoski, Finland
• Vladimir, Russia
• Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic

Notable residents

See also Category: People from Jelenia Góra.

• Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch, born and buried here.
• Christian Michael Adolphi (1676–?), physician
• Johann Traugott Adolphi (1728–?), physician
• Christian Jacob Salice-Contessa (1767–1825), merchant, politician and writer
• Karl Wilhelm Salice-Contessa (1777–1825), poet
• Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander (1803–1879)
• Maximilian Schwedler (1853–1940), flutist
• Karl Joel (1864–1934), philosopher
• Felix Funke (1865–1932), admiral
• Fritz Warmuth (1870–?), politician, member of Reichstag
• Wilhelm Iwan (1871–1958), author, historian, and theologian
• Georg Heym (1887–1912), early expressionist writer
• Hanna Reitsch (1912–1979), test pilot
• Ernst Augustin (1927) author
• Dieter Pohl (* 1934), regional historian
• Armin Nentwig (* 1943), politian Landrat of Landkreis Amberg-Sulzbach 2003-2008;
• Dorota Piedel (born 1959), press operator

Footnotes

1. ^ Informacje Ogólne Jelenia Góra City Official Webpage
2. ^ 900 bębnów na 900 lat Jeleniej Góry
3. ^ Piotr Pregiel, Tomasz Przerwa, Dzieje Śląska (The History of Silesia), page 30 W odwecie Krzywousty najechał Czechy (1110), zaskakując przeciwnika przejściem przez Karkonosze (wykorzystując bazę w Jeleniej Górze). Published by Cadus, 2005
4. ^ Weczerka, ibidem, p. 189
5. ^ Badstübner, ibidem, p. 387
6. ^ Franke, ibidem, p. 6
7. ^ ^{a b} Barbara Czopek, Adaptacje niemieckich nazw miejscowych w języku polskim, 1995, pp.66, ISBN 8385579338
8. ^ Weczerka, ibidem, p. 491
9. ^ Weczerka, ibidem, p. 207
10. ^ Rieckenberg, ibidem, p. 431
11. ^ Franke, ibidem, p. 7
12. ^ Franke, p.13
13. ^ Weczerka, p. 192
14. ^ Badstübner, p.389
15. ^ Badstübner, p.391.
16. ^ Bürgerhäuser am Ring mit gewölbten Laubengängen. Fassaden ursprünglich reich gestaltet, vereinfacht während der 1965 durchgeführten Rekonstruktion. - Badstübner, p. 393
17. ^ Witold Papierniak, Stacje radiowo-telewizyjne na Dolnym Śląsku from the Internet Archive

Reading

• Badstübner, Ernst; Dietmar Popp, Andrzej Tomaszewski, Dethard von Winterfeld (2003). Dehio - Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler in Polen: Schlesien. Stuttgart: Deutscher Kunstverlag. ISBN 342203109X. 
• Weczerka, Hugo (2003). Handbuch der historischen Stätten: Schlesien, second edition. Stuttgart: Kröner Stuttgart. ISBN 3-520-31602-1. 
• Franke, Arne (2005). Das schlesische Elysium – Burgen, Schlösser, Herrenhäuser und Parks im Hirschberger Tal. Potsdam: Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa e. V.. ISBN 978-3-936168-33-4. ^{[verification needed]}
• Rieckenberg, Hans Jürgen (1955). Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) Bd.2. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. ^{[verification needed]}

External links

• Official website of Jelenia Góra (English) (German) (Polish)
• jelenia.pl - news from the city (Polish)
• jeleniagora24 - news from the city (Polish)
• Dolny Śląsk na fotografii - extensive collection of old and new views of the city (Polish)
• art1900.info Art Nouveau in Jelenia Góra (English)
•  "Hirschberg". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.