Lubawka

Lubawka [luˈbafka] (German: Liebau) is a town in Poland, in Lower Silesia Voivodship, in Kamienna Góra County. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Lubawka. It lies in the area of Central Sudetenland near to the border with the Czech Republic on the way across the Lubawka pass (516m) between the Karkonosze and Crow Mountains (Czech: Vranní hory). Two small rivers, the Bóbr and Czarnuszka, run through the town, which has 6,529 inhabitants (2006). It was part of the German Republic before WWII after which the ethnic Germans were expelled.

History

The first written reference to Lubawka is from 1284. From 1292 to 1810 it belonged to the Cistercian monastery in Krzeszów (German: Grussau). The whole domain devolved to the Czech Kingdom in 1392. The town was destroyed twice during the Hussite wars in 1425 and 1431. From 1526 it become part of the Habsburg Empire. Another great war disaster hit Lubawka when the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War totally despoiled the city which was abandoned by its inhabitants for more than six months. The city developed rapidly in the 18th century, particularly due to growth in the textile industry there and in surrounding villages. Unfortunately several great fires damaged the city in those times. The largest one in 1734 destroyed the town hall, school, church, vicarage and almost all buildings.