Leśna () is a town in
Lubań County,
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 ...
, 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 ...
, close to the
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
border. It is the seat of the administrative district (
gmina
The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...
) called
Gmina Leśna. As of 2019, the town has a population of 4,439.
Geography
The town is situated north of the
Jizera Mountains
Jizera Mountains (), or Izera Mountains (; ), are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera (river), Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of the Smrk (Jizera), ...
on the left banks of the
Kwisa River, the eastern edge of the historic
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...
region. It lies approximately south of
Lubań
Lubań (; ), sometimes called Lubań Śląski (; , ); is a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in southwest Poland. It is the administrative seat of Lubań County and also of the smaller Gmina Lubań (although it is not part of the territory ...
, and 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 ...
. In the south, a border crossing leads to
Jindřichovice pod Smrkem in
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 ...
.
Lake Leśnia, a reservoir of the Kwisa River, is located east of the town.
History
Leśna Castle, erected on the border with the Polish
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 ...
about southeast of the town, was first mentioned in a 1247 deed. King
Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
Wenceslaus I (; c. 1205 – 23 September 1253), called One-Eyed, was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253.
Wenceslaus was a son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary.
Marriage and children
In 1224, Wenceslaus married ...
, then ruler of the Upper Lusatian lands, ceded it to the
Meissen
Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...
bishop Conrad I of Wallhausen. The fortress probably lost its strategic importance with the construction of
Czocha Castle further east in the early 14th century.
The ''Lissa'' settlement is documented in 1329. It may have been a founding of the Silesian Duke
Henry I of Jawor, heir of the Upper Lusatian Kwisa District by his mother
Beatrice of Brandenburg
Beatrice of Brandenburg (, ; – before 26 April 1316), was a German princess and a member of the House of Ascania in the Brandenburg branch. By her two marriages she was Duchess of Świdnica and Koźle- Bytom- Siewierz.
She was the second ...
. Upon Henry's death in 1346, the Kwisa lands reverted to the
Bohemian Crown, whereafter the lordship was enfeoffed to local noble dynasties. A first town layout was abandoned in 1434 upon devastations by the
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...
, a flood and a fire, and rebuilt at its present location further south on the route from
Frýdlant to Lubań. A centre of
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...
manufacturing, it received
market rights
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in 1515.
The name ''Marklissa'' first appeared in 1574. Upon the 1635
Peace of Prague it fell with Upper Lusatia to the
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...
. The town's economy was boosted by the immigration of
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
fleeing from the
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
in the adjacent
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
lands of Bohemia and Silesia. After 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 the 1815
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
, southeastern Upper Lusatia was annexed by
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, ...
and incorporated into the
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1742 and established as an official province in 1815, then became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1919, as ...
.
With Prussia Marklissa became part of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
in 1871. After
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 town, located east of the
Oder-Neisse line, was ceded to the
Republic of 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 ...
according to the 1945
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 ...
. The German population was
expelled and the area resettled with Poles deported from the eastern
Kresy
Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...
borderlands.
Twin towns – sister cities
See
twin towns of Gmina Leśna.
References
External links
Town and Gmina official site
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lubań County
Cities in Silesia