Piekary Śląskie

Coordinates: 50°23′N 18°57′E / 50.383°N 18.950°E / 50.383; 18.950
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Piekary Śląskie
Basilica of St. Mary and St. Bartholomew
Church of the Resurrection of Christ
Aerial view of downtown Piekary Śląskie
Car plates
SPI
Websitehttp://www.piekary.pl/

Piekary Śląskie (

Vistula
).

It is situated in the

Upper Silesian-Moravian metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people.[2] The population of the city is 54,226 (2021).[1]

Piekary is a spiritual center of

Marian shrine
which is a pilgrimage site for thousands of the faithful, and a mining town.

History

Bytomska Street, the main street of the city

Piekary Śląskie was created in 1934 in interwar Poland by merging the communes of Szarlej and Wielkie Piekary into Szarlej-Wielkie Piekary. In 1935 it was renamed Piekary Śląskie.

Name and early history

There are two legends about the founding of Piekary, according to one it was founded in the late 10th century, and according to the other it was founded by Polish ruler

cavern"), as caverns were supposedly created here as a result of exploitation of ore.[3]

As a result of the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland it was part of various Piast-ruled duchies, the last being the Duchy of Opole until 1526. Between 1303 and 1318, the first church and independent parish were created there. In the 15th century, the zinc and lead mining industry developed and the process of settlement evolution begun.

Modern era

In 1526 Piekary came under the suzerainty of the

pacta conventa. In January 1734, his son, elected king Augustus III of Poland, also stopped here, while heading for his royal coronation, and also swore the pacta conventa here.[4]

In 1742 the settlement was annexed by

Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokół" was established in Piekary. Tram communication was available from 1894.[5]

Recent history

Meeting of Stanisław Szeptycki and Wawrzyniec Hajda in Piekary in 1922

It was one of the centers of

city rights with effect from 1940. As a result of the outbreak of World War II, the actual implementation of this law did not take place until 1947.[3]

During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Piekary was captured by Germany in September 1939, and then was under German occupation until 1945. Already in September 1939, the Germans carried out several executions of Poles (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation). On September 6, Germans murdered three Poles in the present-day district of Brzozowice.[6] On September 17, the Freikorps murdered two miners, one local official and one former Silesian Uprisings participant in Piekary.[7] Several miners from the present-day district of Brzozowice were murdered in nearby Lasowice (present-day district of Tarnowskie Góry).[8] Local teachers were among Polish teachers murdered in Nazi concentration camps.[9] The Polenlager No. 188, a forced labour camp for Poles, was operated in the city.[10] During the occupation, the city's main street, Bytomska, was renamed Adolf Hitler Street (Adolf-Hitler-Straße).[5]

In 1973 Kozłowa Góra was included within the city limits as the northernmost district.[3] Under the administrative reform of 1975, the city limits were expanded by including the surrounding towns and settlements: Dąbrówka Wielka, Brzeziny Śląskie, Brzozowice and Kamień.[3]

Districts

Sights

Barbórka
parade in Piekary Śląskie

The main landmark of Piekary Śląskie is the Romanesque Revival Basilica of St. Mary and St. Bartholomew, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site. Another symbol of the city is the Liberation Mound [pl], erected in 1932–1937 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the march of the Polish hussars of King John III Sobieski through Piekary to Vienna and the 15th anniversary of reintegrating eastern Upper Silesia with Poland after the Silesian Uprisings. It is the highest point within the city limits. Also the Piekary Calvary with the Church of the Resurrection of Christ is one of the city's landmarks.

Monument to the miners of the Andaluzja coal mine, murdered by the Germans during World War II

Other historic architecture includes the Sacred Heart church, Saints Peter and Paul church, Our Lady Help of Christians church and the Our Lady of Perpetual Help chapel in Kozłowa Góra, as well as numerous historic townhouses and buildings. In the city there are also monuments commemorating Poles murdered during the German occupation in World War II, and a monument to local Polish independence activist and poet Wawrzyniec Hajda, located in the Szarlej district.

Gallery

  • Liberation Mound
    Liberation Mound
  • One of the chapels of the Piekary Calvary
    One of the chapels of the Piekary Calvary
  • Sacred Heart church
    Sacred Heart church
  • Historic hospital building
    Historic hospital building
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Help chapel in Kozłowa Góra
    Our Lady of Perpetual Help chapel in Kozłowa Góra
  • Facade of an old tenement house with figurines of Holy Mary
    Facade of an old tenement house with figurines of Holy Mary

Sports

The city's most notable sports club is

Polish Superliga (top division), where it finished 4th in 2007.[11]

Notable people

Wawrzyniec Hajda monument

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Piekary Śląskie is twinned with:[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Data for territorial unit 2471000.
  2. European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) "Project 1.4.3". Archived from the original
    on 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Historia". Piekary Śląskie (in Polish). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Ostatnia wizyta polskiego króla". Montes Tarnovicensis (in Polish). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Niegdyś Piekary Śląskie tętniły życiem. Były kawiarnie, restauracje i kino". Piekary Śląskie Nasze Miasto (in Polish). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  6. ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. p. 277.
  7. ^ Wardzyńska, p. 136
  8. ^ Wardzyńska, p. 135
  9. ^ Wardzyńska, p. 138-139, 142
  10. ^ "Polenlager Nr. 188 Deutsch Piekar". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Tabela wyników 2006-2007". Związek Piłki Ręcznej w Polsce (in Polish). Archived from the original on 18 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Miasta partnerskie". piekary.pl (in Polish). Piekary Śląskie. Retrieved 2020-03-10.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Piekary_Śląskie&oldid=1217048465"