History
In 2004 and 2005 in the village the oldest traces of Homo erectus in Poland were found, dated 800 000 years old. The village in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It was first mentioned in a Latin document of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław, Diocese of Wrocław called ''Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis'' from around 1305 as ''item in Cunczindorf Pasconis debent esse XXIX mansi''. It meant that the village was supposed to pay a tithe from 29 Łan, greater lans, and also that it was a private village as opposed to the sister settlement of ''Kończyce Małe, Cunczindorf principis'' mentioned in the same document, which was a ducal village. The ''dorf'' (German for ''a village'') ending of its name indicates that the primordial settlers were of Germans, German origins. The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what would later be known as Upper Silesia. Politically the village belonged initially to the Duchy of Teschen, formed in 1290 in the process of History of Poland#Fragmentation, feudal fragmentation of Poland and was ruled by a local branch of Silesian Piast dynasty. In 1327 the duchy became a Fee (feudal tenure), fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became a part of the Habsburg monarchy. The village could have become a seat of a Catholic parish early after location as an incomplete register of Peter's Pence payment from 1335 mentioned ''Cunczendorf'', however there were two other villages named the same in the Teschen deaconry. Another register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among the 50 parishes of Teschen deanery mentioned two villages called ''Cunczendorff''. After the 1540s Protestant Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and a local Catholic church was taken over by Lutheranism, Lutherans. It was taken from them (as one from around fifty buildings) in the region by a special commission and given back to the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church on 25 April 1654. After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipality, municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed at first to the Districts of Austria, political district of Teschen District, Teschen and the legal district of Fryštát, Freistadt, which in 1868 became an independent Freistadt District (Austrian Silesia), political district. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the municipality dropped from 1,677 in 1880 to 1,624 in 1910 with the majority being native Polish-speakers (between 97.4% and 98.5%) accompanied by German-speaking (at most 31 or 1.9% in 1910) and by Czech-speaking people (at most 18 or 1.1% in 1880). In terms of religion in 1910 the majority were Roman Catholics (99.7%). After World War I, the fall of Austria-Hungary, the Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, it became a part of Second Polish Republic and was transferred to Cieszyn County. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Poland.Geography
Kończyce Wielkie lies in the southern part of Poland, north of the county seat, Cieszyn, west of Bielsko-Biała, south-west of the regional capital Katowice, and east of the border with Czech Republic, the Czech Republic. The village is situated in Ostrava Basin, between roughly above mean sea level, above sea level, north-west of the Silesian Beskids. Petrůvka (river), Piotrówka, right tributary of the Olza (river), Olza in the watershed of Oder, Odra, flows through the village.Landmarks
There is a wooden Saint Michael the Archangel church built in 1777 in the village and a palace built by Jerzy Fryderyk Wilczek at the end of the 17th century. Last owner of the palace was countess Gabriela von Thun-Hohenstein. She was known in the region for her philanthropic activities, she helped poor children, worked in the Red Cross and in 1910 funded construction of a pavilion of Silesian Hospital in Cieszyn. She was then awarded an honorary citizen of that town. In 1945 Red Army, Soviet troops entered the palace and devastated it. Aristocratic family was expropriated of their property and orphanage was set there. After the fall of communism in Poland, there were problems with the property laws for the palace. It has been finally sold in 2007 to businessmen who declared they would like to set up a hotel there.Gallery
See also
* Kończyce MałeFootnotes
References
* * * * * {{Cieszyn Silesia Villages in Cieszyn County Cieszyn Silesia