Łeba

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Łeba

Coat of arms

Łeba

Coordinates: 54°47′N 17°33′E / 54.783, 17.55

Country

Poland

Łeba (urban gmina)

Area

- Total

14.8 km² (5.7 sq mi)

Population (2006)

- Total

3,824

- Density

258.4/km² (669.2/sq mi)

Postal code

84–360

Website: http://www.leba.eu

Yacht port in Łeba

Łeba [ˈwɛba] (Kashubian/Pomeranian: Leba; German: Leba) is a town in Middle Pomerania, Poland, located near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the Łeba River at the coast of Baltic sea.

1 History
2 Famous people
3 Sights
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

The settlement of Łeba was first mentioned in 1282. At that time the village was located about two kilometers west from the present mouth of the Łeba River. Łeba received municipal rights in the year 1357. Łeba developed to a fishing port and a wood marketplace.

Łeba was threatened for many centuries by floods and expanding sand dunes. After 1558 Łeba was rebuilt in a safer location. In the 18th century a large port was built on instruction of the Prussian king. In the course of the harbor construction a 34 meter broad channel between the Łebsko lake and the Baltic Sea was dug.

In the proximity of Łeba there is a large testing area for long-range rocket weapons. On this area the German long-range rocket Rheinbote was tested between 1941 and 1945. Also the V-1 flying bomb was tested here from 1943 to 1945. Between 1963 and 1973 33 Polish sounding rockets of the type Meteor were launched in Łeba (http://www.astronautix.com/sites/leba.htm). Allegedly, the German general Erwin Rommel practiced desert warfare in the vast dunes of Łeba.

[edit] Famous people

After World War I Łeba became a popular resort for German bohemians. Max Pechstein and other expressionists frequented the place.

[edit] Sights

Łeba possesses a few objects of interest:

Beachgoers frolic on the white sand dunes of Łeba.

ruins of the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas church) west of the city on the way to the beach
fishermen's church of 1683
fishermen's dwellings from the 19th Century in ulica Kosciuszki
the castle in ulica Sosnowa, today the hotel Neptun
former rocket test site near Pletka (http://lawrenz.homepage.t-online.de/hp-s10.htm)
there is an abundance of architectural and natural attractions near Łeba, for instance the Slowinzi national park with the sand dunes, 8 km west of the city.