Jawor () is a town in south-western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with 22,890 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

. It is the seat of

Jawor County __NOTOC__ Jawor County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in ...

, and lies approximately west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. One of the oldest towns in the region, with a history of more than a thousand years, Jawor was one of the main centers of

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) 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 8, ...

and, in 1274–1392, the capital of an eponymous principality ruled by a local line of the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

. It has a preserved medieval urban layout with several

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

structures, including the Church of Peace, a Historic Monument of Poland and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Jawor is the site for electrical machinery, chemical, paper and food industries, and there are numerous

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

quarries near the town. Through the town flows the 31 mile long Raging Nysa river (pl: ''Nysa Szalona'').

Etymology

The name of the city ''Jawor'' comes from the Polish word for "

sycamore maple ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of maple native to Central Europe and Western Asia. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind an ...

." The earliest recorded name dates from 1133 when the city was written down as Jawr and in 1203 as Jawor. Until the 16th century the name was written down in Latin in various forms such as: Iavor, Iavr, Javr, Javor, Jaur, Jaura, Jawer, Jauor. The Polish form Jawor continued to be used, for example, in painting from 1562 located in church of St.Martin. The other form Iawor is recorded in a document from 1248, and in a document from 1277 the name Iaver is used. In 1295, in the Latin work ''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis (, 'Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th century. It lists towns and villages obliged to pay a tithe to the Bishopric of Wrocław. As a pr ...

'', the city is written as Jawor. In the 1475 Latin ''Statuta Synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensium'', which also contains the oldest Polish-language printing, it is seen as Jaworensis. The German name Jauer is a Germanized version of the original Slavic name, and by 1750 the Polish name Jawor was still used in Polish by Prussian authorities. The German name became official after 1763 and the Austro-Prussian war.

History

Jawor was the main

stronghold A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

of the Trzebowianie tribe, one of the

Polish tribes "Polish tribes" is a term used sometimes to describe the tribes of West Slavic Lechites that lived from around the mid-6th century in the territories that became Polish with the creation of the Polish state by the Piast dynasty. The territory ...

, and became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century. According to

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

chronicles the settlement was expanded in the 11th century.''Kalendarium Historii Jawora'' (in Polish)
/ref> It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

between 1242 and 1275. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, Jawor became part of the

Duchy of Silesia The Duchy of Silesia (, ) with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval provincial duchy of Poland located in the region of Silesia. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Silesian duchies. In 1327, t ...

, then the

Duchy of Legnica The Duchy of Legnica (, ) or Duchy of Liegnitz () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, formed during the fragmentation of Poland into smaller provincial duchies, ruled by a local line of the Piast dynasty between 1248 and 1675. Its capital was Legni ...

from 1248, and from 1274 it was the capital of the

Duchy of Jawor Duchy of Jawor (, ) was one of the duchies of Silesia and medieval Poland established in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica. It was ruled by the Silesian Piasts, with its capital at Jawor in Lower Silesia. It was the southwesternmost ...

, the southwesternmost duchy of medieval Poland, before being integrated with the

Duchy of Świdnica A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign d ...

in 1346, part of which it remained until 1392, all the time remaining under the founding dynasty of the

Piasts The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

. By the end of the 13th century, stone defensive walls were erected. Between 1279 and 1334 the St. Martin church was built and in 1311 the St. Barbara church was renovated. Churches of St. Martin and St. Barbara are the oldest churches in Jawor. In 1324 the first hospital was founded. The first known image of the coat of arms of Jawor, preserved on the city seal comes from 1300. Jawor has grown into one of the most important centers of

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

. In 1329 Jawor was granted

staple right The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch , 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 display them f ...

by Duke

Henry I of Jawor Henry I of Jawor (; – 15 May 1346), was a duke of Jawor-Lwówek-Świdnica-Ziębice during 1301–1312 (with his brothers as co-rulers), sole Duke of Jawor-Lwówek since 1312 and Duke of Głogów since 1337 until his death. He was the third son ...

. In the 14th century, the first

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

s were founded, bringing together furriers, tailors, clothiers and merchants. After loss of the town by Poland, it was then ruled by

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, Bohemia again and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The town suffered during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–1648) as a result of repeated invasions, occupations, religious persecutions and epidemics. In 1626 it was plundered by the Austrians, in 1633 briefly occupied by

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

and recaptured by Austria, in 1639 occupied by the Swedes and in 1640 recaptured by Austria, in 1642 occupied by the Swedes, then the Austrians and again the Swedes, finally captured in 1648 by the Austrians, who plundered and burned the town and expelled its inhabitants. After the war, in accordance with the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

, the so-called Church of Peace was built, however, the Protestants were still being discriminated against by the Austrian administration. Jawor NARA-68155047

In the 18th century, the town and region was the subject of Austrian-Prussian wars, eventually passing to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1763. The Prussians turned the Piast Castle into a prison. In 1776 the town suffered a fire. On 14 May 1807, during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and Polish national liberation struggles,

Polish troops Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

marched through the town, the day before they fought the victorious battle of Struga against the more numerous Prussians. In 1871 along with Prussia the town became part of Germany, and remained within until 1945. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Germans imprisoned French and Norwegian women in the castle, participants of anti-German resistance movements. In the final stages of the war, in early 1945, most of the town's population was evacuated by the Germans. It was captured by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

in February and passed to Poland in April. After the war the region officially became part of Poland again as per the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. Also according to the agreement, the Germans who had not already fled, were expelled and Polish citizens, many of whom had been expelled from the

Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union Seventeen days after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of the Second World War, the Soviet Union entered the eastern regions of Poland (known as the ) and annexed territories totalling with a population of 13,299 ...

, became the majority. From 1975 to 1998 it was administratively located in the

Legnica Voivodeship Legnica Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Legnica. Major cities and towns (population in 1995) * Leg ...

. On 9 May 2002, a ceremony to commemorate officers of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

murdered by Nazi Germany at the

Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, di ...

, was held in Jawor, with the participation of representatives of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Warsaw, the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

and

GROM The GROM Military Unit ( Polish: ''Jednostka Wojskowa GROM''), is a Polish special forces unit and forms part of the Special Troops Command of the Polish Armed Forces. It is believed to consist of around 250 operatives plus support personnel. G ...

Sights

Church of Peace in Jawor The Church of Peace in Jawor () is a wooden Lutheranism, Evangelical Lutheran church of a wattle and daub structure, located in Jawor, Poland. It is a historic sacral building built under the agreements of the Peace of Westphalia concluded in 1648 ...

, dating from 1655; a

and Historic Monument of Poland *

Jawor Castle Jawor Castle (, ) is a castle in Jawor, Poland. The first castle was a wooden stronghold; later, Duke Bolesław the Tall built a stone tower house. The castle has been a seat of both the Piast dynasty and the Duchy of Jawor-Świdnica. Several p ...

, former residence of local Piast dukes * Jawor "Soliński", the nearby mountain peak *

St. Martin's church, dating from 1267–1290. * Regional Museum ('' Muzeum Regionalne'') located in the former Bernardine monastery * Town Hall * Medieval town walls * Strzegomska Tower * Municipal Theatre ('' Teatr Miejski'') * St. Adalbert chapel * St. Barbara church * Former Beguine monastery and church File:Swiątynia Pokoju w Jaworze - 191.jpg, Church of Peace File:Peace Church in Jawor int01.jpg, Church of Peace, interior File:Kościół św. Marcina w Jaworze.JPG, St. Martin church File:Jawor - rynek - Kroton 010.jpg, Market Square (''Rynek'') File:Jawor june 2014 326.JPG, Old townhouses at the Market Square File:Jawor (0104).jpg, Legnicka Street in the Old Town File:3151vii Jawor. Foto Barbara Maliszewska.jpg, Former Bernardine monastery File:SM Jawor Chrobrego41 (0) ID 591288.jpg, Chrobry Street in the Old Town

Twin towns – sister cities

Jawor is twinned with: *

Berdychiv Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

, Ukraine *

Niepołomice Niepołomice (pronounced ) is a town in southern Poland, seat of Gmina Niepołomice in the Wieliczka County in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is situated on the Vistula River, on the verge of the large virgin Niepołomice Forest. There is ...

, Poland *

Niesky Niesky (; Polish and Sorbian: ''Niska'' ; ) is a small town in Upper Lusatia in eastern Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 9,200 (2020) and is part of the district of Görlitz. Historically considered part of Upper Lusatia, it was a ...

, Germany *

Roseto degli Abruzzi Roseto degli Abruzzi (), more commonly Roseto, is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Teramo in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is a beach resort on the Adriatic Sea and has about 24,000 inhabitants. Geographically, Roseto is positio ...

, Italy *

Turnov Turnov (; ) is a town in Semily District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It is a traditional centre for gemstone polishing, glass craftsmanship and arts. The historic town centre is well preserved and ...

, Czech Republic * Strassen, Luxembourg

Notable people

* Nicholas Magni (1355–1435),

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Christoff Rudolff Christoph Rudolff (born 1499 in Jawor, Silesia, died 1545 in Vienna) was a German mathematician, the author of the first German textbook on algebra. From 1517 to 1521, Rudolff was a student of Henricus Grammateus (Schreyber from Erfurt) at the U ...

(1499–1545), author of the first

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

Heinrich Gottfried von Mattuschka Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

(1734–1779), German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Wilhelm Ebstein Wilhelm Ebstein (27 November 1836, Jauer, Prussian Silesia – 22 October 1912) was a German physician. He proposed a low-carbohydrate high-fat diet to treat obesity. Ebstein's anomaly is named for him. Biography Ebstein was born to a Jewis ...

(1836-1912), doctor who described the heart disorder

Ebstein's anomaly Ebstein's anomaly is a congenital heart defect in which the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve are displaced downwards towards the apex of the right ventricle of the heart. Ebstein's anomaly has great anatomical heterogeneity tha ...

Gerhard Bersu Gerhard Bersu (26 September 1889 – 19 November 1964) was a German archaeologist who excavated widely across Europe. He was forced into exile from Germany in 1937 due to anti-Semitic laws in pre-war Nazi Germany. He was interned on the Isle ...

(1889–1964), German

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

* Max Otto Koischwitz (1902–1944),

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

propagandist Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

* Heinz Finke (1920–1996), German officer *

Janusz Krasoń Janusz Mirosław Krasoń (pronounced ; born 15 September 1956 in Jawor) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 15,162 votes in 3 Wrocław district as a candidate from the Democratic Left Alliance Democrati ...

(born 1956), Polish politician *

Elżbieta Witek Elżbieta Barbara Witek (; née Zbanuch; born 17 December 1957) is a Polish conservative politician of the Law and Justice party. Historian, history teacher by profession. Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland for the 8th and 9th parliam ...

(born 1957), Polish politician,

Marshal of Sejm Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated of ...

(since 2019) *

Aleksander Śliwka Aleksander Śliwka (born 24 May 1995) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Suntory Sunbirds and the Poland men's national volleyball team, Poland national team. He won the silver medal in the Olympic Gam ...

, (born 1995), Polish volleyball player The surname "Jaworski," meaning someone whose ancestors had ties to Jawor, is a fairly common surname both in Poland itself, and among Polish emigres to such countries as the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Examples include

Leon Jaworski Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski (September 19, 1905 – December 9, 1982) was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon aft ...

and

Ron Jaworski Ronald Vincent Jaworski (born March 23, 1951), nicknamed "Jaws", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He played college football for the Youngstown State Pengui ...

References

External links

Official site

Jewish Community in Jawor
on Virtual Shtetl
Church Of Peace in Jawor - photo gallery
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Jawor County Cities in Silesia Capitals of former nations