Sobków is a village in Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Sobków __NOTOC__ Gmina Sobków is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Sobków, which lies approximately north-east of Jędrzejów and south-west ...

. It lies in historic Lesser Poland, approximately north-east of Jędrzejów and south-west of the regional capital

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

. The village is located on the left bank of the Nida river. It was founded as a city in 1563 by Grand Treasurer of the Crown Stanisław Sobek, and lost its

city 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 ...

in 1869. Sobkow has a rail station, which is located three kilometers northwest of the village, along a main line from Kraków to

. The name of the village comes from Stanislaw Sobek of

Sulejów Sulejów is a town in central Poland with 6,130 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Piotrków Voivodeship (1975–1998). Sulejów gives its name to the protected area known as Sulejó ...

, who founded it in the area of the village of Nida. Together with the town, Sobek founded a castle, which became main residence of his family. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town belonged to several families, such as the Drohojewski, the Wielopolski, the Sarbiewski, the Myszkowski, and the Szaniawski (since 1725). Sobków remained a small town, whose development was limited due to proximity of well-established local urban and trade centers at Checiny and Jędrzejów. In 1667, while part of Sandomierz Voivodeship, it had only 32 houses, with the population of 270. After the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

(1795), it belonged to the Russian-controlled

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

(1815 - 1915), and in 1827, its population was app, 1,000. Following the example of many other places in northern Lesser Poland, Sobków lost its town charter in 1869, after the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. During World War I, the village was completely burned (1915). Most interesting sight at Sobków is a fortified castle, called Fortalicja sobkowska. It was built on the left bank of the Nida by Stanislaw Sobek, in 1560–1570. The castle is surrounded by a rectangular wall, with towers in each corner. Inside the walls the castle once stood. The original castle was replaced by a Classicistic complex in 1767. Now it is in ruins. Furthermore, Sobków has the St. Stanislaus church, built in the mid-16th century as a Calvinist prayer house. In ca. 1570 the house was handed over to Roman Catholic Church by Stanislaw Sobek, the son of the founder. The church has the shape of a cross, with a Baroque main altar and 18th century epitaphs. Damaged during World War II, the church was remodelled in 1945–1946.

References

Villages in Jędrzejów County Sandomierz Voivodeship Kielce Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939) {{Jędrzejów-geo-stub