Kudowa-Zdrój
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kudowa-Zdrój | |||
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Coordinates: | |||
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Country | Poland | ||
Area | |||
- Town | 33.99 km² (13.1 sq mi) | ||
Elevation | 400 m (1,312.3 ft) | ||
Population | |||
- Town | 10,274 | ||
Website: www.kudowa.pl |
Kudowa-Zdrój (German: Bad Kudowa, Czech: Chudoba) is a town situated in the foothills of the Stołowe Mountains in the southwestern part of Poland, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, about 400 m above the sea level. It has a population of about 11,000 people. It is located right at the Polish-Czech border, just across from the Czech town of Nachod, and some 40 km west of Kłodzko.
This is a spa town where heart and circulation system diseases are cured. In the downtown area, there is a park, styled on 17th century revival, with exotic plants and a mineral water pump room. Due to its location, the town is a great place for tourism, walking, biking, and as the departure point for trips. Among numerous attractions of the region which are worth seeing is The Chapel of Skulls and The Moving Nativity Scene in Czermna, The Basilica in Wambierzyce, The Bear Cave in Kletno or the heritage park in Pstrążna. The remarkable natural beauty of the nearby Table Mountains invites visitors to relax and hike in the scenic natural wonder. It is only 1 kilometer from the centre of the town to the Czech border and about 140 kilometers to Praha, the capital of the Czech Republic which makes it possible to organize a short trip to this beautiful city.
[edit] History
Kudowa-Zdrój is one of the oldest spa resorts in Poland and Europe. It is first mentioned in a document by Henry the Older, son of the Hussite Czech king George of Podebrady. The original name of the village was Lipolitov, but in the mid-XVI century it was changed to Chudoba, later on Kudoba, Bad Kudowa and in 1945 to Kudowa-Zdrój. The oldest part of Kudowa is Czermna, dating back to XVI century. The first record of a mineral waters in the area comes from 1580 from the chronicles of Louis of Nachod, under the name Cermenske Lazne. In 1625 (or, as some sourses say, as early as 1621), G. Aelurius, a protestant monk in his work "Glaciografia" writes about the great taste of the mineral waters from Kudowa, how healthy they were and that they were used for winemaking.