Skwierzyna
Skwierzyna | |
|---|---|
 Town hall | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Lubusz |
| County | Międzyrzecz |
| Gmina | Skwierzyna |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Lesław Hołownia |
| Area | |
• Total | 35.69 km2 (13.78 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
• Total | 10,010 |
| • Density | 280/km2 (730/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 66-440 |
| Car plates | FMI |
| Website | http://www.skwierzyna.pl |
Skwierzyna [skfʲɛˈʐɨna] (Template:Lang-de) is a town of 10,339 inhabitants (2005) in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, the administrative seat of the Gmina Skwierzyna. It is located at the confluence of the Obra and Warta rivers, about 18 km (11 mi) north of Międzyrzecz and 23 km (14 mi) south-east of the regional capital Gorzów Wielkopolski. The town is situated in a particularly green part of Poland. Extensive forests and numerous lakes can be found in the vicinity.
History
Skwierzyna already held town privileges upon the death of the Piast duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland in 1296, renewed by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło in 1406. The colonization of the area was largely implemented by the Cistercian monks of nearby Paradyż Abbey, a filial monastery of Lehnin Abbey in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. With its predominantly German citizens, the town for centuries belonged to the Polish Poznań Voivodeship, situated near the western border of the Lands of the Polish Crown with the Brandenburgian Neumark region.
In the course of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Skwierzyna was annexed together with the whole region of Greater Poland by the Kingdom of Prussia. It was part of Grand Duchy of Warsaw between 1807 and 1815. It was incorporated into the Kreis Birnbaum of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1815. From 1887 it was the administrative seat of Kreis Schwerin within the Prussian Province of Posen. In 1919, according to the Treaty of Versailles, this district was left in the small Posen-West Prussia area which remained part of Weimar Germany. It was part of Germany until occupation by the Red Army on 31 January 1945.
At the end of World War II the lands east of the Oder-Neisse line fell to the Republic of Poland, the German population was expelled and replaced by Poles who had been expelled or left the territories annexed by the Soviet Union in Ukraine and Lithuania.
Notable people
- Johann Christian Metzig (1804–1868), physician
- Johann Gottfried Piefke (1817–1884), musician and composer (Preußens Gloria)
- Sebastian Świderski (born 1977), volleyball player.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Skwierzyna is twinned with:
External links
- Skwierzyna
- Skwierzyna
- Virtual tour of Skwierzyna
- Jewish Community in Skwierzyna on Virtual Shtetl