Syców

Syców
250px
Flag of Syców Flag Coat of arms of Syców Coat of arms
Motto: Niech pomyślność miasta rozkwita tak, jak zacność jego obywateli Let the town's prosperity grow like the nobility of its citizens
Syców
Coordinates:
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lower Silesian
County	Oleśnica
Gmina	Syców
Established	13th century
Town rights	1369
Government
• Mayor	Sławomir Kapica
Area
• Total	17.05 km2 (6.58 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	10,712
• Density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	56-500
Area code(s)	+48 62
Car plates	DOL
Website	http://www.sycow.pl

Syców [ˈsɨt͡suf] (German: Groß Wartenberg, until 1888 Polnisch Wartenberg) is a town in Oleśnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Syców.

It lies approximately 27 kilometres (17 mi) north-east of Oleśnica, and 47 kilometres (29 mi) north-east of the regional capital Wrocław.

History

File:Wartenberg Kirche.jpeg

Castle church

The settlement of Syczow or Wartinbergk in the Duchy of Silesia was first mentioned in the late 12th century deed issued by the Bishop of Wrocław. A castellan at Wrathenberc on the trade route to Kalisz in Greater Poland is documented about 1276. Then part of the Duchy of Legnica, it was gained by Duke Henry III of Głogów in 1291 and inherited by Duke Konrad I of Oleśnica in 1321, a vassal of King John of Bohemia from 1329. The town was given Magdeburg rights in 1369.

When the Oels branch of the Silesian Piasts went extinct in 1492, the Bohemian king Vladislas II seized the duchy as a reverted fief and established the state country of Wartenberg enfeoffed to the Haugwitz noble family. In 1734 it was acquired by Ernst Johann von Biron, whose descendants held Wartenberg even after the Prussian annexation of Silesia in 1742, until they were expelled in 1945.

Wartenberg Castle was plundered and destroyed during the occupation by the Red Army in 1945. The park and the Protestant castle church, a work by Carl Gotthard Langhans finished in 1789, are preserved.

Before 1945 the area was part of Germany. After World War II the region was placed under Polish administration and ethnically cleansed according to the post-war Potsdam Agreement. The native German populace was expelled and replaced by Poles.

Notable people

• The painter Karl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880) spent his childhood at Polnisch Wartenberg
• Christian Friedrich Lessing (1809–1862), botanist
• Janina Korowicka, ice speed skater, born 1954 in Syców
• Beata Kempa, politician, born 1966 in Syców
• Robert Gonera, actor, born 1969 in Syców
• Ernst-Johann Biron, Prince of Courland (born 1940) was granted honorary citizenship by the Gmina Syców

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Twin towns — Sister cities

Syców is twinned with:

• Malsch in Germany

External links

• (Polish) Polnisch Wartenberg - Groß Wartenberg - Syców
• Jewish Community in Syców on Virtual Shtetl