Dobczyce is a town in southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, situated since 1999 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 ...

(previously in Kraków Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998). As of December 2021, the town has a population of 6,388. There is a large dam with

Lake Dobczyce Lake Dobczyce ( pl, Jezioro Dobczyckie) is an artificial lake, built in 1985 - 1987. It is located in southern Poland (Lesser Poland Voivodeship), thirty kilometers south of Kraków. The lake, which lies between the Island Beskids, and the Wielicz ...

on the

Raba river The Raba is a river in the south of Poland (Lesser Poland Voivodeship), right tributary to the river Vistula. Its source is in the Beskids, between the towns of Rabka-Zdrój and Nowy Targ. It flows to the north and then to the northeast. Towns alo ...

, and a partially rebuilt 14th-century

Dobczyce Castle Dobczyce Castle ( pl, Zamek w Dobczycach) is a castle in Dobczyce, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is located on a rocky hill above Lake Dobczyce. The castle was first mentioned in written sources in 1362, but had been fortified ...

, with ruins of a 14th-century defensive wall - which is open for tourists. Dobczyce is also the name of a small part of Bobrowniki Małe, a village in Lesser Poland. Dobczyce received its

Magdeburg rights 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 ...

town charter probably in 1310, during the reign of Władysław Łokietek. The town was famous for its castle, where

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histor ...

liked to stay and work on his chronicles. Here, in 1450, Polish astronomer and dean of

Kraków Academy The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university i ...

Leonard Vitreatoris (Leonhard von Dobschütz) was born. Dobczyce enjoyed several royal privileges, allowing its residents to buy salt from nearby

Wieliczka Wieliczka (German: ''Groß Salze'', Latin: ''Magnum Sal'') is a historic town in southern Poland, situated within the Kraków metropolitan area in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. The town was initially founded in 1290 by Premislaus II of ...

. The town was a local center of cloth and wool making, but the period of prosperity ended during the

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...

(1655–1660). After the Partitions of Poland, Dobczyce was annexed by the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, and from 1772 to 1918 belonged to

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

. On the main square there is a 19th-century parish church.

Gallery

File:Skansen Dobczyce.JPG, Open-air museum File:Kosciol dobczyce.jpg, St. Mary's Church File:Dobczyce, Rynek.jpg, Market Square File:Dobczyce, brama miejska.jpg, City gate

References

External links

Jewish Community in Dobczyce
on Virtual Shtetl
Cities and towns in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Myślenice County Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) {{Małopolska-geo-stub