Polanica-Zdrój

Polanica-Zdrój
Town centre

Coat of arms
Polanica-Zdrój
Coordinates:
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Lower Silesian
County Kłodzko
Gmina Polanica-Zdrój (urban gmina)
Area
 • Total 17.22 km2 (6.6 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Total 6,900
 • Density 400.7/km2 (1,037.8/sq mi)
Website http://www.polanica.pl

Polanica-Zdrój [pɔlaˈnit​͡sa ˈzdrui̯] (German: Bad Altheide) is a town in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.

It lies approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) south-west of Kłodzko, and 89 kilometres (55 mi) south-west of the regional capital Wrocław. As at 2006, the town has a population of 6,900.

Polanica-Zdrój was first documented in 1347 under the name Heyde; at the time it belonged to the House of Glaubitz, Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire. In 1645 the town was destroyed by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. In 1742 the town – like all the area – changed into the hands of Brandenburg-Prussia, becoming part of sovereign Prussia with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The town grew quickly during the 19th century, becoming a popular health resort in the 1870s, after Prussia had become a component state of Germany in 1871. In 1890 a rail connection to Glatz was completed. The town became part of Poland after World War II ended in 1945.

On 28 June 1972 the Catholic parishes of Polanica-Zdrój were redeployed from the traditional Hradec Králové diocese (est. 1664; Ecclesiastical Province of Bohemia) into the Archdiocese of Wrocław.[1]

The amateur film festival POL-8 takes place in Polanica-Zdrój. The town is twinned with Telgte in Germany. Since 1963, it has hosted the annual Akiba Rubinstein Memorial chess tournament, honoring the great Polish Grandmaster (1882–1961). This event always attracts a high-class field of top players.

Numbers of inhabitants:

Year Numbers of inhabitants
1787 443
1816 490
1880 527
1910 1,538
1933 1,831
1950 4,482
1960 6,514
1970 6,943
1978 7,399
2006 6,900

References

External links