Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, in the

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the

Gorce Mountains The Gorce Mountains ( pl, Gorce ) are part of the Western Beskids mountain range spreading across southernmost Poland. They are situated in Małopolska Province, at the western tip of the long Carpathian range extending east beyond the Dunajec R ...

, at the confluence of the

Czarny Dunajec Czarny Dunajec , ( sk, Čierny Dunajec) is a town located in southern Poland near the Polish- Slovak border. Czarny Dunajec is in the Nowy Targ County ''(Polish: Powiat Nowotarski)'' and in the Lesser Poland. Czarny Dunajec is about 60 miles sout ...

and the

Biały Dunajec Biały Dunajec , ( sk, Biely Dunajec) is a village in southern Poland situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975–1998. It lies approximately north-east of Zakopane and south of th ...

. It is the seat of the

Nowy Targ County Nowy Targ County ( pl, powiat nowotarski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

and the rural

Gmina Nowy Targ __NOTOC__ Gmina Nowy Targ is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the town of Nowy Targ, although the town is not part of the territory of the gmina. The gmina co ...

, as well as the Tatra Euroregion. With 33,293 inhabitants, Nowy Targ is the largest town and the historic capital of

Podhale Podhale (literally "below the mountain pastures") is Poland's southernmost region, sometimes referred to as the "Polish Highlands". The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian mountains. It is the most famous ...

, as well as its main commercial, communication and industrial center. The town has the Podhale State Vocational University and the highest located airport in Poland. Established before 1233, Nowy Targ received city rights on June 22, 1346 from King

Casimir the Great Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He w ...

. The historic architectural and urban complex of the town with a medieval market square has been preserved to this day.

Toponymy

In 1233, a settlement called in pl, Stare Cło, lit=Old Toll ( la, Antiquum Theoloneum) or pl, Długie Pole, lit=Long Field is mentioned in the vicinity of the present town. Later, a settlement of , Filip Sulimierski, Bronisław Chlebowski, Władysław Walewski: ''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich'', Warszawa 1880, tom VII, s. 307–310. was established in the new place. The name of the town was spelled in pl, Nowy Targ, lit=New Market or . The town's full official name is , which can be translated as 'Royal Free Town Nowy Targ'. Nowy Targ was a royal town of the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includi ...

and was granted

staple right The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch ''stapelrecht'', was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to ...

in 1638. In nearby

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to th ...

, the town is known as . Nowy Targ is commonly called in the

Goral The gorals are four species in the genus ''Naemorhedus''. They are small ungulates with a goat-like or antelope-like appearance. Until recently, this genus also contained the serow species (now in genus '' Capricornis''). Etymology The original ...

dialect of pl, Miasto, lit=the Town. During the foundation period, the town was called the German name , and during the

Austrian partition The Austrian Partition ( pl, zabór austriacki) comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partitions were conduc ...

it was called ( yi, נײַ־מאַרק) by local Jews. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law ** ...

, the authorities of the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

introduced the official name of .

Timeline of town history

* 1308 -

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

receive a land grant to form new settlements in the mountain region. A border settlement called Stare Cło (german: Altzoll, en, Old Customs Post) is founded soon thereafter. * 1346 - Nowy Targ founded by King

, based on the Stare Cło settlement, and granted significant internal autonomy based on

Magdeburg law Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within c ...

. * 1487 - King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the mo ...

grants the rights to two annual festivals, and a weekly market fair on Thursdays. (The weekly open-air market continues to this day, now on Thursday and Saturday mornings.) * 1533 - Nowy Targ obtains a

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by l ...

requiring merchants to pass through the city when crossing the border. * 1601 - Great fire destroys the parochial church and city records. * 1656 - Swedish troops sack the town during the

Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...

. *1670 The Battle of Nowy Targ occurs ending the Peasant Rebellion in Podhale of Gorals * 1710 - Another fire consumes 41 houses and the church. * 1770 - Nowy Targ annexed by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

(see:

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 1 ...

). * 1886 - City Hall opens. * 1914 - Vladimir Ilyich

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

is arrested as a possible spy in southern Poland by Austrian authorities; he is jailed in Nowy Targ for approximately 12 days. * 1918-1920 - The region becomes part of the

Lemko Republic Lemko-Rusyn People's Republic ( rue, Руска Народна Република Лемків, Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv , Rusyn National Republic of Lemkos), often known also as the Lemko-Rusyn Republic, just the Lemko Republic, or the ...

after World War I. * 1933 - Polish president

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

visits. * 1939 - German forces invade on 1 September, at approx. 16:30. * 1941 - Resistance movement called the Tatra Confederation formed in Nowy Targ. * 1942 - Jewish

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...

liquidated by Nazis on 30 August. * 1945 - The

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

forces out German occupants on 29 January. 4 Jewish Holocaust survivors who return to the town are being murdered by locals and the rest flee. * 1966 - Born Wojciech Wiercioch, Polish writer. * 1979 -

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

visits Nowy Targ on 8 June, during his first pilgrimage to Poland.

Geography

Nowy Targ is located in the heart of Podhale (one of the Goral Lands) at the altitude of 585–850 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

(AMSL); latitude 49°28' N, longitude 20°01' E. Distance to the main

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

s in Poland is:

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

– ,

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

– ,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

– ,

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

– ,

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

– ,

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popu ...

– ,

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

– ,

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...

– ,

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

– ,

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

- ,

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

– ,

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

– ,

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

– .

Climate

Due to its altitude, Nowy Targ is one of the coldest cities in Poland together with

Suwałki Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki i ...

and

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been p ...

. Winter usually lasts from late November to early April and between 90 and 110 days a year there is a snow cover. Air frost has been measured in every month of the year except for July. Summers are mild with occasional thunderstorms and high temperatures between 17 and 25 degrees Celsius. Hot days (over ) are rare, only occurring twice annually on average. Precipitation is heavy for Polish standards, varying between at the airport and in Kowaniec to around on Bukowina Miejska, the highest part of the city. The growing season equally varies between on average 150 days on Bukowina Miejska to around 200 days in the lower parts of the city. Nowy Targ is in the AHS Heat Zones 1-2 and

USDA Hardiness Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

4a to 5b, depending on the location. According to the Köppen climate classification, Nowy Targ straddles the border of the Warm Summer Continental (Dfb) and Subarctic (Dfc) climates, with most of the city falling in the Dfb group. The Dfc climate is only found above of elevation within Nowy Targ.

Culture

* City Cultural Center (Miejski Ośrodek Kultury) * Youth Cultural Center (Młodzieżowy Dom Kultury) * The Jatka Gallery (Galeria Jatki)

Museums

* Museum of Podhale (Muzeum Podhalańskie PTTK)

Cinemas

Cinema "Tatry"

Architecture

St. Anna Church

Wooden church overseeing the city cemetery. Its origins date to the 15th century, although local legends describe it as founded in 1219. Initially built in a gothic style, it was later repaired and rebuilt featuring, among others, a baroque altar piece and paintings, a rococo pulpit, and 18th-century organ and bell tower.

St. Catherine Church

Dedicated to St.

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, wh ...

, the church was built in 1346 by King

. It is the oldest existing church of the

region. The church has been damaged by numerous fires and military attacks, and subsequently rebuilt and renovated. The interior retains its baroque character, especially in the altar and side chapels, although numerous pieces are replicas of wooden originals lost to fire. A painting of St. Catherine from 1892 dominates the main altar.

Education

Podhalańska Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa in Nowy Targ

Sport

Ice hockey

Podhale Nowy Targ Podhale Nowy Targ is a Polish ice hockey club based in Nowy Targ, Poland. They currently play in the Polska Liga Hokejowa, Polska Hokej Liga. Legally, they are known as SSA KH Podhale Nowy Targ, and TatrySki Podhale Nowy Targ for sponsorship reas ...

Podhale Nowy Targ
/ref>

Floorball

* KS Szarotka Nowy Targ * KS Górale Nowy Targ

The Conservation of Nature

Nature reserves

*Bor na Czerwonem - a reserve in Nowy Targ where the protected

Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distributio ...

Mountain Pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and So ...

and

Black Grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and step ...

grow.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Nowy Targ is twinned with: *

Radevormwald Radevormwald (; ksh, Radefürmwald) is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the oldest towns in the Bergischen Land, formerly the County and Duchy of Berg. Geography Radevormwald is loca ...

, Germany *

Kežmarok Kežmarok (german: Kesmark or ; hu, Késmárk, yi, קעזמאַרק, Kezmark, pl, Kieżmark) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 16,000), on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the Ki ...

* Évry, France *

Roverbella Roverbella ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about north of Mantua. Roverbella borders the following municipalities: Castelbelforte, Mar ...

, Italy

References

;Notes

External links

Nowy Targ - official homepage

Nowy Targ Holocaust Memorial book
(Hebrew, Yiddish and English)
Jewish Community in Nowy Targ
on Virtual Shtetl

Nice photos from Nowy Targ

{{Authority control Populated places established in the 13th century Cities and towns in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Nowy Targ County Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland