Orneta (german: Wormditt, Prussian: ''Wurmedītin'') is a town in northern

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 ...

, with a total population of 8,951 (2016). It is situated in the

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an ar ...

and within the historical region of

Warmia Warmia ( pl, Warmia; Latin: ''Varmia'', ''Warmia''; ; Warmian: ''Warńija''; lt, Varmė; Old Prussian: ''Wārmi'') is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia. Its historic capital ...

History

Wormditt, a village of

Old Prussians Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians ( Old Prussian: ''prūsai''; german: Pruzzen or ''Prußen''; la, Pruteni; lv, prūši; lt, prūsai; pl, Prusowie; csb, Prësowié) were an indigenous tribe among the Baltic peoples that ...

, was first mentioned in 1308. The town coat of arms depicts the ''worm'' (English: worm,

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

), German: Worms, Wurm as in

Tatzelwurm In the folklore of the Alpine region of south-central Europe, the ''Tatzelwurm'' or ''Stollenwurm, Stollwurm'' is a lizard-like creature, often described as having the face of a cat, with a serpent-like body which may be slender or stubby, with ...

Lindworm The lindworm (''worm'' meaning snake), also spelled lindwyrm or lindwurm, is a mythical creature in Northern and Central European folklore living deep in the forest that traditionally has the shape of a giant serpent monster. It can be seen as a ...

). The

bishop of Warmia This is a list of Bishops and Prince-Bishops of the Diocese of Warmia ( pl, link=no, Diecezja warmińska, la, link=no, Dioecesis Varmiensis, german: link=no, Bistum Ermland), which was elevated to the Archdiocese of Warmia in 1992. The Bisho ...

Eberhard von Neiße ordered the building of a city which received town rights in 1313 and was mainly populated by settlers from

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

. Until 1772 Orneta was part of

. In 1538 Orneta was visited by astronomer

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulat ...

, who accompanied the newly elected Warmian bishop, Polish diplomat Jan Dantyszek during his tour of Warmia. The town was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

in the First Partition of Poland, and subsequently it became part of Germany in 1871. The Germans established three

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

camps in the town. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the town again became part of Poland, under territorial changes demanded by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

at the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

. In May 2010, a procession with the coffin of

stopped in Orneta and official ceremonies took place before the great astronomer was buried again in Frombork.

Legend of the dragon

According to some legend, many ages ago there lived a dragon that devoured not only animals, but also women and children. Many knights who tried to set the town free from the disaster were killed in a struggle with the monster. At last one of the knights managed to combat the dragon. Reminiscences of the legend are reflected in Orneta's crest. The oldest image of the crest is known from the sealing wax on the document from 1388. It represents the dragon biting its own tail. In the frame of the seal there is only a fragment of an inscription which says" S.BV.MDIT." However, on the seals from the 15th century, a juridical seal from the 16th century as well as the seal of the town secretary from 18th century there is the dragon coiled, lying on its own back.

Sports

The local football club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

Kościół parafialny pw. św. Jana Chrzciciela w Ornecie (miasto)A-185 -Magkrys.JPG, Saint John the Baptist church (

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

) Orneta, Plac Wolności 1,3,5 kamienice.jpg, Old townhouses at the Freedom Square (''Plac Wolności'') Orneta, kamienica.JPG, Old townhouses at the Freedom Square Orneta, ulica 1 Maja - kapliczka przydrożna - panoramio.jpg, Typical Warmian wayside shrine

Notable residents

* Petrus Zwicker (died 1403), cleric *

Krzysztof Jotko Krzysztof Jotko (born August 19, 1989) is a Polish mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division. He has previously fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Born and raised in Orneta, Poland, Jotko was orig ...

(born 1989), mixed martial artist

References

External links

Orneta's unofficial website

Orneta's official website
Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Lidzbark County {{Lidzbark-geo-stub