Send Gift Baskets to Jaworzno, Poland

There were traces of a gord on Grodzisko hill during the Middle Ages. The first mention of Jaworzno dates back to 1229, and a parish church dedicated to St. Wojciech was built here in 1335. Jaworzno was a small village near the much larger and more important town of Chrzanów in western Lesser Poland. The Przemsza River marked the border between Lesser, Poland, and Silesia as early as 1179. Until 1922, it also formed part of Poland’s state border. Jaworzno was ruled initially by the Kraków bishops. In the aftermath of Austria’s seizure of Silesia at the end of the 17th century, several coal mines were developed near Jaworzno. Several metals were found here in the 18th century, including silver, lead, iron, and zinc. A coal mine was opened in Szczakowa in 1767, the first in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

As a result of the Partitions of Poland, Jaworzno became part of the Habsburg Empire. In 1809-1815, it was part of the Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815-1846, it belonged to the Free City of Krakow, which was annexed by Austria in 1846. As of November 1918, Jaworzno was still part of Austrian Galicia. Three Emperors’ Corner became famous in the 19th century for meeting the borders of three empires (Germany, Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary). Jaworzno’s Szczakowa district was connected with Kraków and Prussian Upper Silesia in 1847 by a new railway line. As a result of industrialization, the village became a center of commerce. Eighty-four percent of Galician coal was extracted from Jaworzno’s coal mines by 1898 when a power plant was opened. Late in the 19th and early 20th century, several new factories were built here. Thus, Emperor Franz Joseph, I granted Jaworzno a town charter on September 21, 1901.