Send Gift Baskets to Jelenia Gora, Poland

In 2008, the city celebrated its 900th anniversary since the legendary creation of the settlement by the Polish duke Boleslaw III Wrymouth of the Piast dynasty in 11008. During his military campaigns against the Czechs in 1110, Boleslaw III used Jelenia Gora as a staging point for his military campaigns. Over time, the original fortified hilltop settlement developed into a prominent trading settlement, expanding outside the old fortifications and forming a suburb. As a result, the Piast Grod has been preserved as an archeological site – the Bolesław Wrymouth Hill.

When German settlers immigrated to the region in 1281, the Polish Duke Bolesaw the Horned granted the city an urban charter. As early as 1281, the settlement was known as Hyrzberc and Hyrsbergensium in Latin by 1288. The city council was established in 1345. An earthquake struck the city in 1348, and Duke Bolko II the Small granted the city new privileges. As a result of the loss of the Silesian Piast inheritance and the death of Agnes of Habsburg, the last duchess of Widnica-Jawor, the city passed into the hands of Bohemia, ruled by the House of Luxembourg. During 1426 and 1427, Hussites invaded the town. It was part of Hungary from 1469 to 1490, then part of Bohemia, ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty. A privilege extending the city’s autonomy was granted by King Vladislaus II in 1502, and an annual fair was granted by King Louis II in 1519.

As a result of the Thirty Years’ War, the city suffered greatly. Troops beleaguered Hirschberg from both parties, paid high contributions, and burned down again during a siege in 1634. In 1640 and 1641, there were two more sieges. After several years, the town was able to recover. Establishing a merchant society in 1658 closed Hirschberg’s position as the most critical center of linen and veil trade in the Silesian mountains during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Habsburg Austria inherited the town in 1526, two years after it converted to Protestantism. 1566 marked the construction of a Protestant school. In 1560, a fire destroyed large parts of the city, stopping the city’s economic development, characterized until then by linen weaving. When Joachim Girnth introduced veil-weaving in the town on his return from Holland, the city recovered. A privilege was granted by Ferdinand II for these “light veils” in 1625, five years after the first one was offered.