Pruchnik () is a rural

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Jarosław County __NOTOC__ Jarosław County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland, on the border with Ukraine. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish loc ...

Subcarpathian Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshal, it is governed by the Subcarpathian Regional As ...

, in south-eastern

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 ...

. It is the seat of the

administrative district Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

called

Gmina Pruchnik __NOTOC__ Gmina Pruchnik is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Jarosław County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. Its seat is the town of Pruchnik, which lies approximately south-west of Jarosław and east of the ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Jarosław Jarosław (; , ; ; ) is a town in southeastern Poland, situated on the San (river), San River. The town had 35,475 inhabitants in 2023. It is the capital of Jarosław County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. History Jarosław is located in the ...

and east of the regional capital

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

. The town has a population of 3,519. Pruchnik gained town rights in around 1370; the town status was lost in 1935, and restored on 1 January 2011.

History

The history of Pruchnik dates back to the 14th century, when the region of

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Duchy of Belz, Principality of Belz. It is closely related to ...

was annexed into the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

(1340). The village, together with a nearby castle, belonged to the noble Pruchnicki family, after which the town is named. Due to its location, away from main roads and railway lines, Pruchnik is regarded as one of the most picturesque towns of former Galicia, with a number of unique wooden houses, most of which built in the second half of the 19th century. The town also has a medieval St. Nicolas church, which was remodelled in the late 17th century, and ruins of the castle, located some 4 kilometers away, along the road to

. Pruchnik was first mentioned in documents from 1397. History of the town is tied with the Pruchnicki family (

Korczak coat of arms Korczak is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several noble families of Clan Korczak in the times of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. History The coat of arms has Hungarian origins; the three bars represent t ...

), which founded a local Roman Catholic parish some time in the second half of the 14th century. At that time, the village was part of Poland's

Ruthenian Voivodeship The Ruthenian Voivodeship (; ; ) was a voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1434 until the First Partition of Poland in 1772, with its center in the city of Lwów (lat. Leopolis) (modern day Lviv). Together with a number of ot ...

. In 1498, Pruchnik was burned in a Vallachian raid, and in 1524, a Crimean Tatar unit tried to capture the town, but was defeated in a skirmish. Pruchnik remained a small town, destroyed by fires (1635, 1720). Complete destruction took place in 1657, when Pruchnik was burned to the ground by Transylvanian army of

George II Rakoczi George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorg ...

(see

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge 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 of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Pol ...

). In 1772 (see

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

), Pruchnik was annexed by the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, and remained in Austrian Galicia until 1918. In 1888, its population consisted of 740 Roman Catholics, 188 Greek-Catholics, and 188 Jews. The town remained a private property until 1929, when its last owner, Countess Klementyna Szembekowa died. In 1935, it lost its town charter, remaining a village until 2011. In 2019, Pruchnik was condemned by the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress's main purpose is to act as ...

for doing the

Burning of Judas The burning of Judas is an Easter-time ritual that originated in European Christians, Christian communities where an effigy of Judas Iscariot is burned. Other related mistreatment of Judas effigies include hanging, flogging, and exploding with fi ...

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Subcarpathian Voivodeship Jarosław County