Lubań

Lubań (German: Lauban) is a town in southwestern Poland (Lower Silesia), with 22,137 inhabitants (2006). It is the seat of Lubań County, and also of Gmina Lubań (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, as the town forms a separate urban gmina).

Lubań is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Jelenia Góra Voivodeship (1975-1998). Prior to 1945 it was in Germany. Lubań was a member of the Six-City League of Upper Lusatia.

1 History
2 Sightseeings
3 Famous people born in Lubań
4 External links

[edit] History

In 9th and 10th century Lubań was a small settlement with commercial and custom character. Thanks to its good location (a lot of trade routes crossing the town) Lubań was enlarging very fast. In 1220 or 1268 (second date is more probably than first) Lubań received Magdeburg rights. The centre of town was a square marketplace with perpendicular streets, which were ended with four gates: Zgorzelecka on the west, Bracką (built in 1318 together with stone curtains by Henryk Jaworski) on the south, Mikołajska on the east and Nowogrodziecka on the north. The first mayor of the town became Mikołaj Herman and Lubań received his own seal. In 1319 the town inherited Duke Henryk. Henryk builded a new town hall, which ruins we can admire today (Kramarska Tower) He managed the town for eighteen years, then Lubań moved to rule of the Czech King Jan Luksemburski. On 10 August 1346 came into being the Six-City League of Upper Lusatia which was converging following towns: Lubań, Zgorzelec, Lubij, Żytawa, Budziszyn and Kamieniec Łużycki. Twice, in 1427 and 1431, Hussities completely demolished the town, but Lubań has been rebuilt soon. In his history, Lubań has been repeatedly destroyed and burned in big fires, which often ruined all the town. Many inhabitants died with a result of plagues. During the reign of Saxony, in Lubań built the house called Dom pod Okrętem (eng. House under the Ship). It was annexed with Lower Silesia by the Kingdom of Prussia during the Silesian Wars. In 1865 and 1866 Lubań received a railway connection with Zgorzelec and Jelenia Góra. Following the end of World War II in 1945, the town was placed under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Conference and became Lubań. The remaining German inhabitants were expelled westward and replaced with Polish settlers. In 1992 Six-City League has been reactivated. During the years 1992-2004 marketplace was revitalizing. Streets have been paved and built the town houses, which surround the Kramarska Tower, the remain of an old town hall.

[edit] Sightseeings

In Lubań there is a lot of sightseeings, which are really worth seeing and admiring. It’s just one problem – anybody has money to restore old buildings. One way and the other, there are mainly unkempt and they go into the ruin. Lubań’s most famous sightseeings shows the list below:
• Kramarska Tower – a remain of a 13th century gothic town hall,
• stone curtains (1318) made from basalt which came from a local quarry. Behind the curtains there were situated four main gates: Nowogrodziecka, Mikołajska, Bracka i Zgorzelecka
• Bracka Donjon (built in 1318 by Henryk Jaworski),
• Trynitarska Tower (1320 r.) on Wrocławska street, a remain of ST. Trinity Church,
• Salt House or Cereal House (Polish: Dom Solny lub Dom Zbożowy) (1539)the building made of basalt
• Town hall built in 1554 in renaissance style
• House under the ship (Polish: Dom pod Okrętem) (1715 r.) house of Kirchoff’s family,
• park on Kamienna Góra hill. The park area is 14 hectares. We can see there a remain of an extinct tertiary volcano, such like basalts columns or “volcanic bombs”. Also we can admire a wonderful forest standt with an exotic trees: Liriodendron tulipifera, Pinus pinea, Pinus nigra. On the area of Kamienna Góra is also situated an amphitheatre and “Small Castle” (other name: Mountain Home), which was built in 1824 and rebuilt in 1909r. From a balcony we can marvel beautiful panorama of Sudeten with the highest point: a summit of Śnieżka 1603 meters above the sea level.

[edit] Famous people born in Lubań

• Martin Behm (1557-1662), writer
• Johann Knöfel (1525–30-1617), composer
• Jakob Bartsch (1600-1633), astronomer
• Konrad Gottlob Anton (1745-1814), orientalist
• Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow (1831-1890), explorer of Africa
• Elisabeth von Saldern (1878-1938), Mother Superior
• Karl Hanke (1903-1945), NSDAP-Politician
• Otto Kuss (1905-1991), theologian
• Heinz Keßler (1920), general in the National People's Army, Minister of Defense in the Ministerrat, and a representative of the Volkskammer of the German Democratic republic.
• Horst Klaus (1930), unionist
• Hans Geisler (1940), politician
• Konrad Weiß (1942), film director
• Helmut Bakaitis (1944), actor
• Ludwig Danziger (1874–1925), painter

[edit] External links

v • d • e Gminas of Lubań County
Urban gminas: Lubań (seat) • Świeradów-Zdrój Urban-rural gminas: Gmina Leśna • Gmina Olszyna Rural gminas: Gmina Lubań • Gmina Platerówka • Gmina Siekierczyn	Image:POL powiat lubański COA.svg