Bardo is a historical town in Ząbkowice County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Bardo.

As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,440. In 1981 a monument of Pope John Paul II was unveiled in Bardo, as the second in Poland after Kraków.

After the First Silesian War, Bardo along with most of Silesia was annexed by Prussia in 1742. In 1826, Fryderyk Chopin travelled through the town. From 1871 to 1945 it was part of Germany. During World War II, the Germans established and operated a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-A prisoner-of-war camp in the town. After the defeat of Nazi Germany in the war it became again part of Poland under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference. Also in accordance with the agreement, the German population was expelled and Bardo was repopulated by Poles, most of whom were themselves expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1949–1950 Greeks and Macedonians, refugees of the Greek Civil War, were temporarily admitted in Bardo, before new homes were found for them in other towns. Following the Korean War, in 1956–1959, Poland admitted 400 North Korean orphans in Bardo.

Bardo had gained the status of a town in the early 14th century, but this was lost as the result of the destruction caused by World War II. It became the seat of a gmina in 1954, and was granted town status again in 1969.

Sights

thumb|420px|Gothic bridge over the [[Eastern Neisse river (Nysa Kłodzka)]]

Historic buildings still existing in Bardo include:

  • a 15th-century stone bridge across the Nysa Kłodzka River
  • Basilica of the Visitation, a Baroque pilgrimage church with an altarpiece by Michael Willmann
  • Redemptorist monastery
  • numerous historic townhouses in the Old Town (Stare Miasto)
  • Ursuline Convent
  • Monastery of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate
  • Różańcowa Góra (Mount Rosary) chapels
  • ruins of the medieval Piast Castle

<gallery widths="150px" heights="150px" perrow="6">

Bardo-Kirche-5.jpg|Interior of the Basilica of the Visitation

Bardo - pl wolnosci 5 - 1904.jpg|Redemptorist monastery

2014 Bardo, ul. Główna 6, 02.JPG|Former bank building in the Old Town

2019 Zajazd Pod Złotym Lwem w Bardzie 1.jpg|Pod Złotym Lwem ("Under the Golden Lion") Inn

2014 Stare miasto w Bardzie, 11.JPG|Historic townhouses in the Old Town

2019 Klasztor Urszulanek Unii Rzymskiej w Bardzie 03.jpg|Ursuline Convent

</gallery>

Twin towns and sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Bardo.

See also

  • Tourism in Poland

References

  • Official website