Lanckorona

Lanckorona
Village
Lanckorona
Coordinates: 49°50′47″N 19°42′54″E / 49.84639°N 19.71500°E / 49.84639; 19.71500Coordinates: 49°50′47″N 19°42′54″E / 49.84639°N 19.71500°E / 49.84639; 19.71500
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lesser Poland
County	Wadowice
Gmina	Lanckorona
Website	http://www.lanckorona.pl

Lanckorona [lant͡skɔˈrɔna] is a village located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south-west of Kraków in Lesser Poland. It lies on the Skawinka river, among the hills of the Beskids, 545 m (1,788 ft) above sea level. It is known for the Lanckorona Castle, today in ruins. Lanckorona is also known for the Battle of the Bar Confederation that took place at the Lanckorona Castle and within a 4 km (2 mi) range south of the town borders on 22 February 1771. In recent years, Lanckorona has become a tourist attraction for the well preserved 19th century wooden houses in its centre. The township of Lanckorona was established by Casimir III the Great in 1336, to protect the road to Kraków, following the creation of new regional borders following the homage given by Mieszko I, Duke of Cieszyn to Wenceslaus II of Bohemia in 1291. Lanckorona lost its town rights on 13 July 1933 as its population declined.^[1]

History

As documented by Jan Długosz, the chronicler and diplomat, in his manuscripts, Casimir III the Great had erected the Lanckorona Castle to protect the road to Kraków and its borders with the Duchy of Oświęcim. The Lanckorona Castle was already standing at the time of the erection of Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Parish Church of Lanckorona in 1336.^[2] In its Township Act, King Casimir III the Great gave its inhabitants the right to hold a weekly Thursday town marketplace as well as a concession to import beer into the town. At the time, the dwellers of Lanckorona enjoyed the same rights as the inhabitants of its much larger neighbouring Capital City of Kraków.^[3]

Two of the main battles of the Bar Confederation took place on the plains before Lanckorona.

On 22 February 1771, the Bar Confederates defended Lanckorona and its Castle from the Russian army led by Alexander Suvorov.

Prayer of the Army before the Battle of the Bar Confederation at Lanckorona

The Bar Confederation (Polish: Konfederacja Barska, 1768–72), was a league of Polish nobles and gentry that was formed to defend the liberties of the nobility within the Roman Catholic Church and the independence of Poland from Russian encroachment. Its activities precipitated a civil war, foreign intervention, and the First Partition of Poland. In February 1768, Russia had compelled the Polish Sejm (legislature) to abandon projects for internal reform, to grant full political rights to religious dissenters (i.e., members of the Protestant and Orthodox faiths), and to make Poland a Russian protectorate. In reaction, Adam Stanisław Krasiński, the bishop of Kamieniec, Józef Pułaski, and Michał Hieronim Krasiński organized a confederation at the Polish Fortress of Bar, Ukraine (Feb. 29, 1768) what is now a region of Podolia in Russia to oppose both the Polish king Stanisław II August Poniatowski and Russia.^[4]

Józef Pułaski and his son Casimir Pulaski were the founders of the Bar Confederation. Casimir Pulaski went on to become the "father of American cavalry as he emigrated to North America to help in the cause of the American Revolution and freedom there. He distinguished himself heroically throughout the revolution, most notably when he saved the life of George Washington and became a general in the Continental Army, and when he created the Pulaski Cavalry Legion and reformed the American cavalry.

In 1602, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski the Voivode of Kraków and Lanckorona commissioned the construction of the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska monastery and the trails of the Passion of Christ in the neighbouring town of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska modeled on the Calvary outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

Lanckorona points of interest
Picturesque ruins of Lanckorona Castle constructed in 1336, defended in 1771  View from Lanckorona toward the field of Battle of the Bar Confederation  Parish Church in Lanckorona originally founded by Casimir III the Great in 1336

References

External links

• Media related to Lanckorona at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website of Lanckorona
• Official website of the Region of Małopolska