This article is about the town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. For the village in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, see Lubań, Pomeranian Voivodeship. For the town in Belarus, see Lyuban, Belarus.
Situated north of the Jizera Mountains on the western shore of the Kwisa River, Lubań is considered part of the historic Upper Lusatia region, although it was more closely associated with Lower Silesia in the early 14th century and from 1815. It is located about 25 km (16 mi) east of Zgorzelec/Görlitz and about 45 km (28 mi) northwest of Jelenia Góra.
Luban was granted town rights with Magdeburg rights in the course of the German Ostsiedlung. It was first mentioned in 1268. Like several other town foundings under the rule of the Přemyslid dynasty, owing to its favourable location on the historic Via Regia trade route close to the border with the Duchy of Silesia, Luban expanded rapidly. Since about 1253, Upper Lusatia temporarily had been under the rule of the Ascanian margraves John I and Otto III of Brandenburg. By the end of the 13th century, Luban's first brewery was founded by the Franciscans[5] and cloth production flourished thanks to Flemish settlers.[6] In 1297, a clothiers' uprising took place, which was brutally suppressed. Its two leaders were beheaded at the market square.[6]
In 1319, the town became part of the Duchy of Jawor, the southwesternmost duchy of fragmented Piast-dynasty Poland.[7] Duke Henry I of Jawor built a new town hall, the ruins of which can be seen today (Kramarska Tower). In 1320, he founded a Magdalene monastery in Lubań.[8] He appointed a separate wójt for the town, which to that point administratively was subordinate to the wójt of Zgorzelec.[8] The centre of the medieval town was a square marketplace with perpendicular streets, leading to four gates: Görlitzer Tor (Zgorzelecka) to the west, Brüdertor (Bracka), built in 1318 together with stone curtains by Duke Henry of Jawor, to the south, Nikolaitor (Mikołajska) to the east and Naumburger Tor (Nowogrodziecka) to the north. The first mayor of the town was Nikolaus Hermann, and Luban received its own seal.
Old town seen the Bracka Tower
In 1346, the town passed to the Bohemian Crown. Under the rule of Bohemian king Charles IV of Luxembourg, Luban on 10 August 1346 established the Lusatian League, together with the towns of Budissin (Upper Sorbian: Budyšin), Görlitz (Zhorjelc), Kamenz (Kamjenc), Löbau (Lubij) and Zittau (Žitawa). Twice however, in 1427 and 1431, the Hussites completely demolished the town; it was quickly rebuilt. In its history, the town has repeatedly suffered great fires, which often ruined the whole town. Many inhabitants died as a result of plagues.[citation needed] In 1437, Bohemian King Sigismund exempted the town from taxes for 15 years.[9]
Residents celebrated the election of Augustus II the Strong as king of Poland and the formation of the Polish-Saxon union in 1697.[11] During August II's visit to the town just before his royal coronation, a parade of the town's self-defense troops was held.[11] With the union came prosperity.[12] The town prospered due to linen and cloth production as well as trade in Polish oxen.[12] During his rule, the Dom pod Okrętem ("House under the Ship") was built.[citation needed] August II visited the town once again in 1721.[11] The 1733 royal election of his son August III of Poland was celebrated even more grandly, with five parades of municipal self-defense troops taking place.[11]
During World War I, Lauban was the site of a large prisoner-of-war camp, whose first prisoners, from September 1914, were soldiers of Imperial Russia, including Poles and Georgians conscripted into the Russian army (large parts of Polish and Georgian lands were under Russian rule before regaining independence by both countries in 1918).[13] From 1915, French soldiers as well as political prisoners and common criminals were also imprisoned there.[13]Aleksandra Szczerbińska, the future wife of the leader of interwar Poland Józef Piłsudski, was imprisoned there in 1916.[14] Józef Piłsudski and Aleksandra Piłsudska are today commemorated in Lubań with a memorial stone.[15] During World War II, the Nazis created numerous forced labor camps in the town, the largest of which was Wohnheimlager GEMA, in which Polish and Russian women were imprisoned.[16] Polish and Russian women were imprisoned also in other camps, as well as Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Latvians and Ukrainians.[16] The present-day district of Księginki was the location of the E231 labor subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs.[17]
From 1975 to 1998 it was part of the former Jelenia Góra Voivodeship. Between 1992 and 2004, the marketplace was renovated. Streets were paved and town houses around the Kramarska Tower were rebuilt.
Economy
There are the following workplaces in Lubań:
Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej (PEC Lubań Sp. z o.o.)
Agromet ZEHS Lubań
Imakon Sp. z o.o.
„IMKA" Dr. Schumacher Sp. z o.o.
Chromex Sp. z o.o.
Automatec Sp. z o.o.
There are also the following notable companies:
Lubańskie Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Sp. z o.o. Lubań
Lubańskie Towarzystwo Budownictwa Społecznego Sp. z o.o. Lubań
Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej Sp. z o.o. Lubań
Zakład Gospodarki i Usług Komunalnych Sp. z o.o. Lubań
In terms of entertainment and consumption, the town offers clubs, restaurants, swimming pools, a cinema and a small modern shopping centre.
Culture
Sudetes Festival of Minerals in Lubań in 2018
Lubań is the hub of culture in the Lubań Municipality. The town has a cultural centre (Dom Kultury). There is also a regional museum.[22]
Lubań is a stop on the Polish sections of the Way of St. James pilgrimage route.
Education
Lubań has five kindergartens, five primary schools, and three secondary schools.
The Adam Mickiewicz Post-Primary School Complex (Zespół Szkół Ponadpodstawowych im. Adama Mickiewicza w Lubaniu) is ranked amongst the best secondary schools in the entire Lower Silesian Voivodeship.[23]
Health care
Lubań has a hospital, the Lucjan Kopeć Lusatian Medical Centre (Łużyckie Centrum Medyczne im. Lucjana Kopcia).[24]
Town hall, Kramarska Tower on the left in the background
Points of interest in Lubań include:
Kramarska Tower – remains of the 13th-century Gothic town hall
Stone curtains (1318), made from basalt from a local quarry. Behind the curtains were situated four main gates: Nowogrodziecka, Mikołajska, Bracka and Zgorzelecka
Trynitarska Tower (1320 r.) on Wrocławska street, a remnant of Holy Trinity Church
Salt House or Cereal House (Polish: Dom Solny/Dom Zbożowy) from 1539, a building made of basalt
Town hall, built 1539–1543, in a Renaissance style, housing the Regional Museum (Muzeum Regionalne)
Polish–Saxon post milestone from 1725 at the Market Square[25]
House under the Ship (Polish: Dom pod Okrętem) (1715), the house of the Kirchoff family, now a tax office
Park on Kamienna Góra hill (14 hectares). Contains evidence of an extinct Tertiaryvolcano, such as basalt columns or "volcanic bombs"; also has a wood with exotic trees: Liriodendron tulipifera, Pinus pinea, Pinus nigra. Kamienna Góra also has an amphitheatre and a castle-style residence, which was built in 1824 and rebuilt in 1909, offering views of the Sudetes mountains (including Śnieżka, the highest peak).
^ abcdeMatwijowski, Krystyn (1976). "Z życia codziennego mieszczan Lubania w XVI–XVIII wieku. Uroczystości państwowe i kościelne". Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka (in Polish). XXXI (2). Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich: 212.
^Kubasiewicz, Izabela (2013). "Emigranci z Grecji w Polsce Ludowej. Wybrane aspekty z życia mniejszości". In Dworaczek, Kamil; Kamiński, Łukasz (eds.). Letnia Szkoła Historii Najnowszej 2012. Referaty (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. p. 117.
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