Polkowice

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title: "Polkowice" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-and-towns-in-lower-silesian-voivodeship", "polkowice-county"] topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polkowice" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Polkowice
image_skyline	Polkowice - Ośrodek historyczny miasta (zetem)3.jpg
image_caption	Market Square with the town hall and St. Barbara Church
image_flag	POL Polkowice flag 2022.svg
image_shield	POL Polkowice COA 2022.svg
pushpin_map	Poland
pushpin_label_position	bottom
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1	Voivodeship
subdivision_name1	Lower Silesian Voivodeship
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	Polkowice
subdivision_type3	Gmina
subdivision_name3	Polkowice
leader_title	Mayor
leader_name	Wiesław Wabik
established_title	Town rights
established_date	13th century
area_total_km2	23.75
population_as_of	2019-06-30
population_total	22480
population_density_km2	auto
timezone	CET
utc_offset	+1
timezone_DST	CEST
utc_offset_DST	+2
coordinates
postal_code_type	Postal code
postal_code	59-100, 59-101
area_code	+48 76
blank_name	Car plates
blank_info	DPL
blank1_name	Climate
blank1_info	Dfb
website	http://www.polkowice.pl
::

Geography

Polkowice is located in historic Lower Silesia, about 15 km northwest of Lubin. The nearest airport is Wrocław Airport, located 72 km from Polkowice.

Situated in a traditional mining region, the town is part of the largest industrial copper-extraction area in Poland, with a copper-processing plant operating nearby. Nearby Polkowice Dolne is the site of a former State Agricultural Farm (PGR) and, since 1998, of a Volkswagen diesel engine plant, another major employer in the region.

Designated as an urban-type settlement from 1945, Polkowice regained town status in 1967. In 1975–1998 it was in the former Legnica Voivodeship.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/'Polkowice_--_Kościół_św.Michała_Archanioła(zetem).jpg" caption="St Michael Archangel Church"] ::

The name of the town is probably derived from Slavic (Old Polish) Boleslaw, meaning "great glory", a favoured dynastic name in the Polish royal House of Piast. According to legend, The Silesian duke Bolesław I the Tall (1127–1201) had a hunting lodge erected near the later town, later called Bolkewice or, adjusted to the German pronunciation, Polkovicz (1333). In the Statuta synodalia episcoporum Wratislaviensium from 1475 the town is named Polkewicze and Polkowice. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland into smaller duchies, it became part of the Duchy of Silesia, and later on the Duchy of Głogów. Polkowice was mentioned as a town (civitas) in a 1276 deed. It remained part of the Duchy of Głogów, ruled by the Polish houses of Piast and Jagiellon, including future Polish kings John I Albert and Sigismund I the Old, until the duchy's dissolution in 1506, when it was incorporated into the Bohemian (Czech) Kingdom under the Holy Roman Empire.

Parts of the medieval town were destroyed by a blaze in 1457, it suffered further damages during the Thirty Years' War and by a plague epidemic in 1680. After the First Silesian War in 1742, it was annexed by Prussia and later incorporated into the Province of Silesia. During the Napoleonic Wars, the town was visited by Napoleon twice, in 1807 and 1812. The town was renamed Heerwegen in 1937 by German Nazi authorities during a campaign of erasing placenames of Polish origin. During World War II, a German forced labour subcamp of the prison in Jawor was operated in the present-day district of Polkowice Dolne. On January 11, 1945, the German administration evacuated the population, leaving only the army in the town. On February 9, 1945, the town was captured by the Red Army. Afterwards the abandoned town became part of Poland, in accordance with the preliminary border regulations of the Potsdam Agreement. The town was repopulated by Poles, many displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.

In 2005 the neighbouring village of Polkowice Dolne was included within the town limits.

Education

Lower Silesian College of Enterprise and Technology (Dolnośląska Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Techniki)

Sport

Górnik Polkowice – football team, playing in the Polish third division. The team played in the country's top flight in season 2003-2004
MKS Polkowice – women's basketball team, 3rd place in Sharp Torell Basket Liga in 2004/2005 season
CCC Polsat Polkowice – Road Cycling Team UCI Professional Continental team

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Polkowice

Notable residents

Fritz Thiel (1916–1943), German resistance fighter
Joanna Kołaczkowska (1966–2025), Polish cabaret performer
Hans Kratzert (1940–2023), German screenwriter and film director

Gallery

"1zetem" Polkowice - Kościół pomocniczy św. Barbary.jpg|Saint Barbara church at night POL Polkowice ZGZM Office.JPG|ZGZM (Copper Basin Gminas Association) Office Polkowice - ul. Gdańska (zetem).jpg|Gdańska street Polkowice - Ośrodek historyczny miasta (zetem)5.jpg|Town center Pomnik ku chwale górników polskiej miedzi - panoramio.jpg|Memorial stone dedicated to Polish copper miners

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::