Everything about Glogow totally explained
Głogów ((rare);, rarely
Groß-Glogau) is a
town in southwestern
Poland. It is the county seat of
Głogów County, in
Lower Silesian Voivodeship (as of 1999), and was previously in
Legnica Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is also the administrative seat of
Gmina Głogów, although it isn't part of its territory (the town forms a separate urban
gmina). Głogów is the sixth largest town in the voivodeship; according to the 2004 census estimate the town had a total population of 71,686. The name of the town derives from
głóg, the
Polish name for
hawthorn.
Głogów consists of the following residential districts: Brzostów, Chrobry, Hutnik, Kopernik (
Copernicus), Kościuszki, Ostrów Tumski (
Church Island), Paulinów, Piastów Śląskich, Sportowe, Przemysłowe, Słoneczne, Stare Miasto (
Old Town), Śródmieście, Żarków. Two villages,
Biechów and
Wróblin Głogówski, are also within Głogów's administrative borders.
History
Głogów is one of the oldest towns in Poland. It was founded as a
gród by a
Slavic tribe called the
Dziadoszans. The first known historic record of Głogów was in 1010 in
Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicles, after the troops of
King Henry II of Germany had attacked Duke
Bolesław I and again besieged Głogów on
August 9,
1017.
In 1109, the
German King Henry V besieged Głogów, but was repelled by Polish forces under Duke
Bolesław III Wrymouth in the
Battle of Głogów. Głogów finally fell to the forces of Emperor
Frederick I in 1157.
In 1180, under the rule of
Konrad I, the son of
Wladislaus II the Exile of Poland, the rebuilt Głogów became a capital of the
principality (
Duchy of Głogów), and in 1253 it was given
Magdeburg city rights. The city also fell in 1329 under the overlordship of
John of Bohemia.
In the 16th century, the Głogów line of the
Piast dynasty died out with the death of
John II the Mad. From 1491-1506 Głogów was ruled by
John Albert and
Sigmund the Old, future kings of Poland. The town was inherited, as part of the
Crown of Bohemia, by the
Habsburg dynasty of
Austria in 1526.
During the
Thirty Years' War, Głogów was turned into a stronghold in 1630. It was conquered by
Protestants in 1632, reconquered by the
Habsburg Monarchy in 1633, fell to
Sweden in 1642, and finally reverted to the Habsburgs in 1648.
Głogów remained part of the Austrian Crown of Bohemia until the
Silesian Wars. In March 1741 it was captured in a brilliant night attack by the
Prussian army under
Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, and like the majority of Silesia became part of
Frederick II of Prussia's
Kingdom of Prussia. The city became known by the
Germanized name of Glogau and was sometimes referred to as
Groß-Glogau ("Greater Glogau") to differentiate it from the town of Oberglogau ("Upper Glogau",
Głogówek) in
Upper Silesia.
During the
Napoleonic Wars, the Polish forces of
Jan Henryk Dąbrowski were stationed in Glogau, and the city was also visited three times by
Napoleon Bonaparte. Glogau was captured by
French forces after the
Battle of Jena in 1806. The town, with a garrison of 9,000 French troops, was besieged in 1813-14 by the
Sixth Coalition; by the time the defenders surrendered on
10 April 1814, only 1,800 defenders remained.
Because the stronghold status had slowed down the city's development for many years, the citizens tried to abolish the stronghold status in the 19th century; the fortifications were only moved to the east in 1873, and finally taken down in 1902, which allowed the city to develop. In 1939 Glogau had 33,000 mostly German inhabitants.
The town was made into a stronghold by the
Nazi government in 1945 during
World War II. Glogau was besieged for six weeks by the
Soviet Red Army and was 95% destroyed. After the
Yalta Conference, the city, like the majority of
Lower Silesia, was given to Poland and German-speaking inhabitants were
expelled. In May 1945 the first
Polish settlers came to the renamed city of Głogów to find only ruins; the town hasn't been fully rebuilt to this day. The town started to develop again only in 1967, after a
copper foundry was built there. It is still the largest industrial company in the town.
From 1945-1950, Głogów was part of
Wrocław Voivodeship and in 1950 became part of the newly created
Zielona Góra Voivodeship. From 1975-1998 it belonged to
Legnica Voivodeship, and after the administrative reform of 1999 it became part of
Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
Landmarks
Notable residents
Bolesław I the Tall (1127-1201), Duke of Silesia
Henryk I the Bearded (1163-1238), Duke of Lower Silesia
Hedwig of Andechs (1174-1243), wife of Duke Henry I
Bolesław II the Bald (1220/25-1278), Duke of Silesia
John I of Poland (1459-1501), Duke of Lower Silesia and King of Poland
Hieronymus Schulz (1460-1522) Bishop of Brandenburg and Havelberg
Andreas Gryphius (1616-1664), poet and dramatist
Joachim Pastorius (1611-1681), historian
Paul Winckler (1630-1686), jurist
Bernhard Rosa (1624-1696), abbot at Grüssau Abbey
Jan Lubomirski (?-1736), nobleman
Joannes-Henricus Cardinal de Franckenberg (1726-1804), archbishop
Johann Samuel Ersch (1766-1828), bibliographer
Georg Gustav Fulleborn (1769-1803), philosopher and philologist
Eduard Munk (1803-1871), philologist
Salomon Munk (1803-1867), orientalist
David Cassel (1818-1893), historian and theologian
Paulus Stephanus Cassel (1821-1892), writer and missionary
Hermann Zopff (1826-1883), composer and music historian
Johannes Dumichen (1833-1894), Egyptologist
Ferdinand Thieriot (1838-1919), composer
Arnold Zweig (1887-1968), writer
Twin towns
Amber Valley, Eisenhüttenstadt, Laholm, Langenhagen, MiddelburgFurther Information
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