Czarnków

Czarnków
Town Hall
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	64-700
Area code	+48 67
Vehicle registration	PCT
Voivodeship roads
Website	http://www.czarnkow.pl

Czarnków [ˈt͡ʂarŋkuf] is a town in Poland in Czarnków-Trzcianka County in Greater Poland Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has 10,279 inhabitants.^[1]

The town lies on the Noteć river. Because there are many hills around the town, the area is called Szwajcaria Czarnkowska ("Czarnków's Switzerland").

History

The area was included within the emerging Polish state in the 10th century by its first historic ruler

In the late 13th century Polish monarch Władysław I Łokietek granted Czarnków to the Polish noble family of Nałęcz, which then changed its name to Czarnkowski after the town.^[3] The Czarnkowski family built a new castle (first time noted in 1331 and destroyed at the end of the 17th century) and established town privileges before 1369. Czarnków remained a private town of the Czarnkowski family until the mid-17th century, and the family's Nałęcz coat of arms remains the town's coat of arms to this day. In the 16th (or 15th) century the family erected the Gothic Saint Mary Magdalene church, which became its official burial site, and it is the most distinctive historic landmark of the town.^[2] Afterwards, the town was owned by the Polish families of Grzymułtowski, Gembicki, Naramowski, Poniatowski, Świniarski.^[2] In the 17th century Protestant refugees from Silesia settled in the town and helped develop its cloth industry.^[3]

The town was annexed by the

During the

From 1975 to 1998, the town was administratively located in the Piła Voivodeship. In August 1980, employees of local factories joined the nationwide anti-communist strikes,^[9] which led to the foundation of the Solidarity organization, which played a central role at the end of communist rule in Poland.

Historic architecture and tourist sights

• medieval layout of the town
• Gothic church of Saint Mary Magdalene with rich Renaissance and Baroque interior^[2]
• Plac Wolności (Liberty Square), the town's main square filled with historic townhouses
• 19th-century Eclectic town hall
• Muzeum Ziemi Czarnkowskiej, local historic, archaeological and ethnographic museum
• Neoclassical Świniarski Manor
• County Office
• old brewery
• 18-19th-century houses
• Park Miejski im. Stanisława Staszica (Stanisław Staszic City Park) with the only ski jump in the Polish Lowlands^[3]
• Marina on the Noteć river
• remnants of a 19th-century Jewish cemetery

Culture

Czarnków is a brewing center with traditions dating back to the 16th century.^[10] The local Noteckie beer is an officially protected traditional beverage, as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.^[10]

Notable people

• Wilfried Erdmann (1940–2023), sailor
• Deputy Chancellor of the Crown
• Ada von Maltzahn (Ada von Gersdorff) (1854–1922), German novelist
• Wincenty Niałek, 13th-century archbishop of Gniezno
• Milena Olszewska (born 1984), Polish archer
• Frieda Riess
  (1890–c. 1955), photographer
• Governor of Nevada
• Wacław Taranczewski [pl] (1903–1987), Polish painter and professor of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków
• Adam Słodowy (1923–2019), Polish author and TV host

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Czarnków is

• Coevorden in Netherlands
• Gadebusch in Germany

References