Bolesławiec (<small>pronounced</small> , ) is a historic city situated on the Bóbr River in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec (being an urban gmina in its own right). As of June 2021, it has a population of 38,280.

Bolesławiec in Prussian and German times

thumb|[[Viaduct|Railway viaduct]]

During the Silesian Wars, the town came under Prussian rule. In 1745, a graphic depicting the city of that time in detail was created by Friedrich Werner. It shows that the town occupied only a small part of its present area, bounded by medieval fortification walls. In the centre was the market square with the town hall, to the right of which was the parish church, the present basilica. The city had three gates - the Upper Gate (the area of today's Piłsudski Square), the Lower Gate (the area of today's Thermal Baths in Zgorzelecka Street) and the Nicholas Gate (located near the place where the intersection of Kutuzowa, Kubika and Komuna Paryska Streets is now). The city also had small suburbs in the area of the present Asnyka and Komuny Paryskiej Streets, and in the place of the present Defenders of Hel Park there was an Evangelical cemetery (surviving until the second half of the 20th century). In the area of today's Castle Square one can still see the remains of a medieval castle, burnt down during the Thirty Years' War, and in whose place an Evangelical church was built ten years later. In the second half of the 18th century an orphanage was opened in Boleslawiec, the buildings of which are still preserved today in Bankowa Street. The orphanage had a printing press, which, among other things, published scientific works.

In 1812, after the emancipation edict, Jews began to settle in the town again. In 1823, a prayer room was set up in the house of the widow Böhm at the then Kirchplatz

thumb|left|Town hall in the 1880s

Napoleon Bonaparte visited the town six times during the Napoleonic wars, and Mikhail Kutuzov, the Russian Field Marshal, died here on 28 April 1813. The house in which he died has been presenved to this day and now houses the City History Department of the Boleslawiec Ceramics Museum. A few months after his death, in August 1813 the Russo-French battle for Bolesławiec took place, ending with the expulsion of the French from the city. After the end of the war, Bolesławiec, whose defensive walls were partially destroyed by the French army began to develop dynamically. On 1 October 1845 a railway station was opened in the town, and a year later a large railway viaduct, one of the longest in Europe, was opened Soon afterwards a histonc complex of a psychiatric hospital was built between the current Piast and Tysiąclecia Streets, where the Provincial Hospital for the Nervous and Mentally ill now operates. Many Bolesław citizens took part in the Franco-Prussian War and in the battles of the First World War. The latter were commemorated with monuments: In the Evangelical church and in the municipal forest in the present Jelenlogórska Street (both no longer extant). Despite these wars, the city developed intensively - new streets were built, a suburban railway and a city theater were opened.

thumb|The former Fernbach printing house at ul. [[Adam Mickiewicz|Mickiewicza]]

A very important place on the pre-war map of Bolesławiec was the printing house of the Royal Orphanage, managed from 1872 by a printer of Jewish origin from Bolesławiec, Louis Fernbach. The Fernbach family managed the printing house until 1942 and during that time made it a very important printing center throughout Germany. The Fernbachs published a number of books and leaflets in Bolesławiec, but the newspapers brought them the greatest fame. In addition to the city newspaper Bunzlauer Stadtblatt, the printing house also published specialized newspapers - the most famous title was Der Photograph, which was published on a global scale. The Fernbachs were finally dispossessed of their property in 1942 by the Nazi authorities.

In 1913, the "Metropol" cinema was opened in Bolesławiec. Changes in Bolesławiec took place after Adolf Hitler took power in the Reich. The current Bolesława Chrobrego Street was named Adolf Hitler Strasse, and the NSDAP and Gestapo were established in the city. In April 1933, a boycott of Jewish stores in the city was carried out - uniformed SA officers took photos of people who wanted to shop there. After the Nuremberg Laws came into force, Jews were removed from state positions, organizations and associations. During Kristallnacht on November 9–10, 1938, Jewish businesses were looted and the synagogue was set on fire. During the war, Nazi propaganda plays were staged in the Bolesławiec theater for some time, and the people of Bolesławiec fought, among others, during the invasion of Poland.

World War II

thumb|left|Memorial at the site of a subcamp of the [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp]]

Polish forced laborers worked around the city. During the war, the parish priest of St. Mary's Church, Father Paul Sauer, spoke out against the Nazis' actions.

During World War II, the Germans established two subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the town. One, at the current Staroszkolna 18 street was established in May 1944 on the basis of the camp of Jewish prisoners subordinated to Organization Schmelt, which had already existed in 1942. For almost the entire period of its existence, 1,000-1,200 Jews were imprisoned there, mainly Polish and Hungarian. They worked in several local arms factories. The second camp, at the current Orla street, was intended for approximately 650 non-Jewish prisoners, mostly Poles, but also citizens of the Soviet Union and other countries.

Urban layout

The city has a very well-preserved medieval street grid surrounding the Baroque town hall. There are tenement houses along the market frontages and old town streets. The city was surrounded by a series of defensive walls with three city gates: "Upper" (at the end of ul. Sierpnia '80), "Mikołajska" (at the beginning of ul. Michała Kutuzowa) and "Dolna" (at the end of ul. Bolesława Prusa).

Monuments

thumb|Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas

thumb|Town hall from the 16th century

thumb|Market Square

thumb|Illumination of the railway viaduct in Bolesławiec

The following are entered in the provincial register of monuments:

  • city – historical center
  • parish church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas, from the second half 15th-16th centuries, Marian Sanctuary. Baroque interior by Giulio Simoneti. Particularly noteworthy are the baptismal font and the pulpit from the second half of the 18th century. Inside there is a painting of "Christ Suffering on the Cross" from 1736, painted by J. W. Neunhertz. Around the church there are baroque sculptures made by the designer of the main altar, Jerzy Leonard Weber. At the beginning of the 20th century, a cupola was added to the highest tower of the church. From October 7, 2012 Minor Basilica.
  • former evangelical church, currently roman-cat. par. pw. Our Lady of Perpetual Help; late baroque, built in the years 1752–1759 on the site of the prince's castle, which burned down in 1642 and was demolished on the orders of the Swedes, and in the 18th century, at the same time, the pastor's house was built; pl. Zamkowy 1b.
  • the 72 m high tower was built in 1833–1835 according to the design of Friedrich Engelhardt Gansel.
  • monastery Dominicans from the second half 18th century; currently offices of the Bolesławiec Rural Commune Office, ul. Theatrical.
  • Elizabethan nunnery house from 1907; currently an orphanage, ul. Bolesława Kubika 4.
  • historic defensive walls from the 14th century; medieval defensive walls preserved in numerous fragments. They were demolished during the Napoleonic Wars. The Planty belt and the walking route stretch along them. One tower has been preserved, which houses the Bolesławiec Photographic Society.
  • chapel by the defensive walls, from the 17th century
  • urban plantations created after 1867, changes in the 20th century
  • town hall, from 1525, rebuilt in 1781; the current shape of the building was obtained after many reconstructions in 1776. Earlier, in 1522, Wendel Roskopf rebuilt it from the destruction. Currently, the town hall serves as the city hall. The building has one tower. In 2012–2013, the town hall underwent a thorough renovation and regained its former glory.
  • Among the tenement houses around the Old Town Square, the following stand out:
  • house Rynek 6, 18th century
  • house "Brama Piastowska", Rynek 7a, from the 17th century, rebuilt in the 19th/20th century.
  • tenement house at Rynek 28, from 1900; currently the "Agora" bookstore, a baroque tenement house where the researcher and traveler K. F. Appun was born
  • house Rynek 29/30 (formerly 28/29), from the end of the 15th century, rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is a café "Pod Złotym Aniłem" here; the Renaissance façade is decorated with a rococo bas-relief depicting an angel, carved with the date 1776
  • house 32 Rynek, from the 18th century, rebuilt in the 19th–20th centuries
  • house 35 Rynek, from the 18th century, rebuilt in the 19th–20th centuries.
  • house 38 Rynek, from the 18th century, rebuilt in the 20th century
  • house, street Kościelna (formerly Dąbrowszczaków) 3, from 1800
  • house, street Kościelna (formerly Dąbrowszczaków) 9, from 1750, rebuilt in 1967
  • former city concert hall "Odeon", restaurant, ul. Bolesława Kubika 1, from 1860; in the 19th century, concerts and theater performances were held here
  • house, street Michała Kutuzowa 13, from the 18th century.
  • "Kutuzov Museum" house, ul. Michała Kutuzowa 14, from the 18th century.
  • house, street Piaskowa 18, from 1767
  • villa, ul. Grunwaldzka 5, built after 1870
  • house, street Jeleniagórska 5a, from 1907
  • the building of the branch of the Ceramics Museum in Bolesławiec from 1908, where Mikhail Kutuzov died; built next to one of the towers belonging to the defensive walls

thumb|District Court

  • junior high school building, ul. Sądowa 1, from 1861–1864 - from the 19th century, built in the neo-Gothic style, initially it served as a junior high school, currently the building houses the District Court
  • park next to the junior high school, from 1865, ul. Sądowa – Grunwaldzka – Tamka
  • theater, ul. Teatralna 1, from 1885–1886, former municipal arsenal. In 1913 it was rebuilt. Until 1945 he had a permanent acting group. After the war, it was used by the Youth Cultural Center in Bolesławiec. In 2012, its thorough renovation was completed. It is used by acting, dance, literary and music groups of MDK in Bolesławiec and the Bolesławiec district.
  • park pavilion, currently a house, ul. Heleny i Wincentego Tyrankiewiczów 1, from the 19th/20th century.
  • house, square Zamkowy 2/3, from 1767, rebuilt in the 19th/20th century.
  • villa, ul. Zgorzelecka 19, from 1837
  • building of the former bathing plant - municipal swimming pool, ul. Zgorzelecka 52, from 1895, rebuilt in 1913–1915, incorporated into one of the towers belonging to the city walls. Under renovation since 2013.
  • complex of the "Salteks" textile factory, ul. Orla 3:
  • sewing room with administrative and workshop parts, from 1889, rebuilt in 1927
  • two magazines, from 1889–90
  • knitting shop, from 1925
  • office building, from 1889–90
  • entrance gate with a fragment of a fence, from the beginning of the 19th century 20th century

thumb|Cultural Integration Center "Orzeł", formerly a cinema.

thumb|upright|Obelisk dedicated to [[Mikhail Kutuzov|General Kutuzov]]

other monuments:

  • tenement house at ul. Adama Mickiewicza 1 – at the intersection with ul. August '80; its facade is made of ceramic tiles in the Art Nouveau style and has many plant ornaments
  • a pond and an erratic boulder placed here in the middle 19th century to commemorate the construction of the water supply and sewage system in the city, opposite the "Odeon" concert hall, at ul. Bolesław Kubik
  • the oldest gymnasium in Bolesławiec, once belonged to the girls' junior high school, at the end of ul. Bolesław Prus. In 2014, it underwent a thorough renovation.
  • the building of the municipal arsenal - the Old Theater in Bolesławiec, built in 1822
  • a historic monument to Kutuzov in the form of an obelisk - erected in the 19th century in the market square; in 1893 moved to its current location on the promenade at ul. Bolesław Kubik
  • cemetery of Russian soldiers from 1812 and 1945 with the heart of Field Marshal Kutuzov embedded in it
  • sculpture "Jesus, the friend of children" made of Carrara marble, by P. Breuer, currently standing on the square. Castle
  • church Our Lady of the Rosary - is the oldest temple and building in the city. The presbytery was built in the 13th century and completed in the 14th–16th centuries.
  • medieval stronghold - register number 186/Arch from 1966-03-10 (site 1)

The Way of Saint James

The Lower Silesian Way of Saint James runs through the city - a section of the pilgrimage route to the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Pottery

thumb|left|Ceramic from Bolesławiec

The town of Bolesławiec and its satellite communes Nowogrodziec, Ołdrzychów, and Bolesławice have a long ceramic history. The pottery is also identified with the German name for the town: Bunzlau. Bunzlauer ware (Ceramika bolesławiecka) evolved from a folk tradition into a distinct ceramic category distinguishable by form, fabric, glaze, and decoration. The term "Bunzlauer ware" may also be used to describe stylistically-related pottery produced in the neighboring districts of Lusatia and Saxony. Taken as a whole, Bunzlauer ware ranks among the most important folk pottery traditions in Europe.

The area around Bolesławiec is rich in clays suited to the potter's wheel. Typically, utilitarian Bunzlauer pottery was turned on a kick wheel, dried leather-hard, dipped in a slip glaze and then burnt in a rectangular, cross-draft kiln. Although fired at temperatures of up to and often classified as stoneware, the clay actually does not vitrify and Bunzlauer pottery is better categorized as high-fired earthenware. In order to make their pottery watertight, Bunzlauer potters applied a coating of liquid clay, or slip. When fired, the slip glaze varied from a chocolate to dark brown. Since the fabric of Bunzlauer ware retains some porosity, the pottery conveniently has been suited for cooking over an open fire or for baking in an oven, as well as for storage.

Origins

thumb|right|Historic tenements in the Old Town

There is archaeological evidence for pottery being turned in the region as early as the 7th century. Documentary evidence demonstrates potting activity in Bolesławiec itself by the 14th century. High-fired earthenware covered in brown and yellow lead glazes was being produced in Bolesławiec from the late 15th century. By 1473, five separate potteries were at work in the city, and in 1511 they came together to form a guild in order to enforce their monopoly of pottery making.

A type of round-bodied jug with spiraling ribs called a "melon jug" attained popularity in the last quarter of the 17th century and continued to be produced on into the next century. Some examples gave up the application of slip in favor of colored lead glazes. After leaving the potshop, many of these melon jugs received pewter lids made by a tinsmith before being shipped off by wagon or on the back of peddlers to customers in Prussia, Bohemia, and Poland, even as far away as Russia.

Industrialisation

thumb|right|Basilica of the Assumption of Mary

thumb|Market Square

The simple blue-on-white spongeware and swirlware productions of the 1880s and 1890s with their clear feldspathic glazes were successful initially, but something still more colorful and forceful was needed if modern customers were to be attracted. This demand was met when, at the turn of the century, Bunzlauer pottery underwent a colorful transformation and a new chapter in its history was opened.

During the first decades of the 20th century, pot shops throughout Silesia and neighboring Lusatia began to decorate their wares with imaginative organic motifs derived from the contemporary Jugendstil aesthetic and applied by brush or, more often, with the aid of cut sponges. Floral designs were common embellishments, but the most popular was the Pfauenauge (peacock's eye) design inspired by the Jugendstil decorators' fascination with the peacock's rich plumage. The Pfauenauge motif became the unofficial, but universally recognized, signature trademark for this category of German spongeware.

By the beginning of the second decade of the new century, many of the potteries throughout the region had evolved into sophisticated ceramic studios, generally continuing to turn out the old utilitarian brown-slip production but giving ever-increasing attention to their new line of colorful ware. Although new designs, many based upon the orientalizing forms popular at the time, were introduced, traditional shapes for coffee pots, bowls, and pitchers were retained but with their surfaces now brightened with a wide variety of Jugendstil patterns, particularly, that of the Pfauenauge.

Even in the studio wares, the blend of folk art and high art is curious and charming, with many of the new and decorative elements taking on a decidedly "country" appearance. This is true for the production of the art potter, Friedrich Festersen (1880–1915), born in northern Schleswig, who opened his Kunsttöpferei Friedrich Festersen in Berlin in 1909 at about the same time that the peacock's eye motif was beginning to embellish the ceramics of Bunzlau. Festersen's connection with the Bunzlauer potteries is uncertain but the peacock's eye motif is to be found throughout the production of his studio. There is no evidence that Festersen turned himself and the potters he employed may have come from Bunzlau, bringing the fashionable new designs with them. Although Festersen was a casualty of the First World War, his art pottery survived until 1922 under the leadership of his widow Sonja.

Increasingly, individual potters and workshops began to mark their wares. Among the prominent names were those of Robert Burdack (who introduced a unique technique of ceramic intarsia inlay), Julius Paul, Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner from Bunzlau and from the surrounding towns of Tillendorf (Bolesławice), Ullersdorf (Ołdrzychów), and Naumburg am Queis came Karl Werner, Gerhard Seiler, Hugo Reinwald, Max Lachmann, Bruno Vogt, and Hermann Kuehn.

So popular did the new Bunzlauer style become that several of the firms, using the technical advice offered by the Bunzlau Keramische Fachschule, transformed their pot shops into large-scale, slip-casting ceramic factories. Leading the way in this manufacturing conversion was the pottery company of Julius Paul & Sohn which was founded in 1893 and continued in operation until 1945. This company was rivaled in quality and innovative design by the firms of Hugo Reinhold, and Edwin Werner. While most of the potteries in Bunzlau and in the surrounding communities continued to utilize the forms by now traditional to Bunzlauer ware, these three "high style" firms experimented with Jugendstil aesthetics and such decorative additions as gold gilding.

All of these commercializing developments encouraged a flourishing export trade which brought shipments of Bunzluer pottery not only to all parts of Europe but into the United States as well, where it competed with similar but recognizably distinct wares produced in neighboring Saxony and Lusatia by such potters as Paul Schreier of Bischofswerda. In the United States, Bunzlauer ware was often marketed under the labels of "Blue Mountain Pottery" or "Erphila", the acronym of the Philadelphia retailer Eberling & Reuss.

Post-war era

thumb|240px|Museum of Ceramics (Muzeum Ceramiki)

The defeat of Germany in World War II and the transfer of the bulk of Lower Silesia to Poland, with the subsequent expulsion of the German population, threatened to end the Bunzlauer ceramic tradition, but it managed to survive in the shops established by displaced potters in the ceramic centers of West Germany, where Bunzlauer style pottery continued to be produced, long celebrated for their native earthenwares or salt-glazed and cobalt-decorated stonewares. Gerhard Seiler from Naumburg am Queis relocated to Leutershausen in Bavaria. Paul Vogt, also from Naumburg settled in Pang near Rosenheim. Max and Wilhelm Werner from Tillendorf initially moved to Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald range before setting up a shop in nearby Hilgert in 1960. Höhr-Grenzhausen also attracted Georg and Steffi Peltner as well as the firm of Alois Boehm. Georg Greulich opened his pottery in Fredelsloh. The Buchwald brothers relocated to Bayreuth, while Hans Wesenberg founded a studio in Ludwigsburg. Several of these master potters from the Bunzlau district took on fellow Silesian apprentices who went on to open shops of their own in western Germany. Thus, hundreds of miles to the west of Silesia, the Bunzlauer tradition remained alive and well.

The Bunzlauer style also has survived in the continuously functioning pot shops of former East Germany in the potting communities of Neukirch/Lausitz, Bischofswerda, Pulsnitz, and Königsbrück. The Upper Lusatian town of Königsbrück is home to the Frommhold Pottery, founded in 1851, the last survivor of 21 potteries once active in the community. The town of Neukirch has contained three active potteries to continue the tradition, that of the Kannegiesser family begun in 1824, that of Karl Louis Lehmann established in 1834, and the Heinke Pottery producing ware since 1866. Pulsnitz is the home of the Juergel Pottery, thought to have been responsible for first introducing the sponging technique and the peacock-eye motif into Lusatia.

Meanwhile, back in Bolesławiec, a new and Polish chapter in the pottery's history was opening, after the city had been severely damaged in the war and its German population expelled. The Polish population that moved in found the surviving ceramic manufacturies stripped of machinery and equipment. Nevertheless, despite the lack of technical expertise in ceramic production in post-war Poland, one of the old factories was back in operation as early as 1946. But it was not until two years later that the first simple pots were being turned out.

thumb|240px|Historic building of the post office in Bolesławiec

The largest producer of Bolesławiec Polish pottery is Bolesławiec Artistic Ceramic. Most of its production is destined for export. It can be recognized by its trademark stamp based upon the three-tower Bolesławiec coat-of-arms below the letter "B". This mark was used until 1996, when it was replaced by the letter "B" enclosed within the outline of a typical Bunzlauer coffee pot set above the castle. Bolesławiec pottery shipped to the United States will have "Hand Made in Poland" stamped on the base of each piece of crockery.

With the collapse of Communism, the two large state-owned ceramic manufacturies on the outskirts of Bolesławiec were privatized and several smaller private potteries were opened. In these smaller workshops, the potters turn each piece on the wheel but the larger manufacturies mold-cast their ceramics which are then hand finished, fired, hand decorated using either brush or sponge stamp, glazed and refired. The shapes and patterns found in the ceramic showrooms of Bolesławiec today and which are offered for sale, worldwide, at a number of outlet stores and internet sites, are staggering in variety: coffee pots, tea pots, cups, mugs, pitchers, platters, breakfast and dinner services, sets of bowls, candle holders, butter dishes cast in the shape of full-skirted peasant women, Christmas tree ornaments, all painted or sponge decorated in cheerful and colorful, folkloric patterns.

thumb|left|upright|Various ceramics from Bolesławiec

The Bolesławiec pottery that is most recognizable today is the white or cream colored ceramic with dark blue, green, brown, and sometimes red or purple motifs. Some of the designs used in this modern Polish pottery rendition of the older Bunzlauer ware harkens back to the German decorative motifs of the pre-war period but the new ceramic artisans of Bolesławiec have not hesitated to invent their own decorations, many of which are designed to have an especial appeal to the pottery's growing international clientele. The most common designs in today's production include sponge-stamped dots, abstract florals, speckles, windmills, and, of course, the famous "peacock's eye".

A growing appreciation for this ceramic category has been stimulated by a number of public exhibitions. The initial one, in which more than900 pieces were on display, was entitled "Bunzlauer Geschirr: Gebrauchsware zwischen Handwerk und Industrie" was held at three venues in Germany in 1986–88: the Museum fuer Deutsche Volkskunde in Berlin, the Hetjens-Museum in Düsseldorf and the Altonaer Museum in Hamburg. The catalogue to this exhibition has become the standard reference work for those interested in Bunzlauer pottery. Additional presentations of Bunzlauer pottery in Germany have included "Guter Ton aus Bunzlau" on view in 2004–05 at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg featuring examples from that institution's extensive collection; "Bunzlauer Keramik: Schlesisches Kunsthandwerk" at the Keramik-Museum Berlin in 2008; "Bunzlauer Tippel nach 1945" at the Bunzlauer Heimatstube in Siegburg in 2009; and "Bunzlauer Keramik – Gestern und Heute" at the Haus des Deutschen Ostens in Munich in 2011

-12. Polish museums also have contributed to the increasing public awareness of Bunzlauer pottery. In 1995, the Ceramics Museum in Boleslaweic collaborated with the Muzeum Narodowe, Wrocław (National Museum, Wrocław) in presenting "Artystyczna Kamionka Bolesławiecka", utilizing the holdings of both museums. In 2008, Bolesławiec's Ceramic Museum organized a show centered around one of the most prominent of the town's pre-war potteries, that of Hugo Reinhold. "Vom Kunsthandwerk zur Kunst – Bunzlauer Keramik aus dem Haus Reinhold" was also exhibited in Germany at the Schlesisches Museum in Görlitz. Another of Bunzlau's accomplished ceramic producers was celebrated in Austria when "Art Deco Keramik Bunzlau: die Feinsteinzeugfabrik Julius Paul & Sohn 1893–1945" was presented at the Oesterreiches Postsparkasse in Vienna. In addition to these European exhibitions, there have been three showings of Bunzlauer ceramics in the United States. The first took place at the McKissick Museum of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina in 1998 as part of an exhibit called "Two Traditions in Transition: Folk Potters of Eastern Germany and the American South". This was followed by "Bunzlauer Style: German Pottery from Jugendstil to Art Deco", presented in 2002 by the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia. Bunzlauer Pottery also was featured in an exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina in 2005–06.

Older, pre-war examples of Bunzlauer pottery are avidly sought by collectors today. Private collections abound, especially in Germany but also abroad, including the United States where some individuals have amassed collections of more than 100 pieces of the pre-1945 pottery, most of which had been imported during the period between the two world wars. Extensive public collections of Bunzlauer ceramics are to be found in Poland at the Muzeum Ceramiki in Bolesławiec (with over 2000 pieces) and the National Museum in Wrocław; in Germany at the Schlesisches Museum in Görlitz, the permanent exhibition Keramik des Bunzlauer Töpfergebietes at Antik Leonhardt, Görlitz, at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, at the Keramik-Museum and at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen in Berlin, at the Haus der Begegnung of the Bundesheimatgruppe Bunzlau in Siegburg, at the Heimatmuseums in Neukirch/Lausitz and Pulsnitz, at the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst in Dresden, and at the Sorbian Museum in Bautzen; and in the United States at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina which houses a collection of 110 pieces.

Settlements

thumb|Urban plants created after 1867

Pre-war settlements (as of 1903):

  • Dzielnica Miejska (Stadtbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Dolna (Niederbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Zamkowa (Schlossbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Sierociniecka (Waisenhausbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Dworcowa (Bahnhofbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Górna (Oberbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Anielska (Angelbezirk)
  • Dzielnica Mikołajska (Nikolaibezirk)
  • Brama Godnowska (Gnadenbergerthorbezirk)
  • Brama Lwówecka (Löwenbergerthorbezirk)
  • Brama Zgorzelecka (Görlitzerthorbezirk)
  • Brama Szprotawska (Sprottauerthorbezirk)

Contemporary settlements:

  • Południe
  • Piastów
  • Kwiatowe
  • Śródmieście
  • Leśne
  • Witosa
  • Lubańska
  • Czterdziestolecia
  • Przylesie
  • Przylesie II
  • Zabobrze
  • Staszica
  • Kościuszki
  • Nadzieja
  • Jana Pawła II

Transport

Road

thumb|The railway viaduct in Bolesławiec renovated and strengthened in connection with the renovation of the railway line

thumb|View of the pl. marsz. Józef Piłsudski

Bolesławiec is located at the intersection of the East-West and North-South routes. The following road routes run through the city:

{| class="wikitable"

!Road

!Route

|-

|

| Zgorzelec – Bolesławiec – Legnica – Wrocław – Opole – Bytom – Będzin – Sosnowiec – Kraków – Tarnów – Rzeszów – Przeworsk – Korczowa

|-

|

| Nowa Sól – Kożuchów – Szprotawa – Bolesławiec – Lwówek Śląski – Pasiecznik

|-

|

|Łęknica – Przewóz – Gozdnica – Ruszów – Osiecznica – Bolesławiec

|-

|

| Bolesławiec – Złotoryja – Jawor – Drogomiłowice

|}

The A4 motorway passes to the north of Bolesławiec. The town can be accessed via DW 297 from exit 3 of the A4.

There are also local routes from Bolesławiec to Lubań, Krzyżowa, Stare Jaroszewice and Ocice.

Rail

thumb|Railway station

History

The history of railways in Bolesławiec dates back to the first half of the 19th century. On September 1, 1846, a double-track railway line Miłkowice - Bolesławiec - Żary was opened, with a length of 102.4&nbsp;km. On March 30, 1900, the line was extended by a 21&nbsp;km section from Żary to Jasień. After the end of World War II, the second track on the 63&nbsp;km Węgliniec - Jasień section was dismantled. In December 1985, the electrification of 61.5&nbsp;km of the Miłkowice - Bolesławiec - Węgliniec section was completed.

Railway lines

  • Railway line no. 282
  • Railway line No. 323 (closed)

Collective transport

There is a bus depot in the city.

Carriers

  • PKS w Bolesławcu Sp. z o.o.
  • Auto-Linie
  • Grażyna

Public transport

The Bolesławiec area is served by the Municipal Transport Company in Bolesławiec. In June 2018, free public transport was introduced in the city.

Air Transport

About 17&nbsp;km northeast of the city, there is the Krzywa airstrip, on the site of a former airport. Kryzwa airstrip is not active anymore, however the nearest airfield available by road distance from Bolesławiec would be in Jelenia Góra.

Media

  • Press:
  • Gazeta Bolec.Info – free biweekly
  • Gazeta Konieczne.pl – a free biweekly published since 2009 (previously called Essential Information)
  • Express Bolesławiecki (published by the Expressy Dolnośląskie group)
  • TV:
  • Bolesławiec Television
  • Internet:
  • bobrzanie.pl
  • Konieczny.pl (previously: boleslawiec.org, Koniecznyinformacje.pl)
  • bolec.info
  • wboleslawcu.pl

Culture

thumb|Teatr Stary ("Old Theater") in Bolesławiec

  • Until 1944, the Silesian National Theater (Schlesisches Landestheater von Bunzlau) operated in the Old Theater, with a permanent theater group. After the war, the theater was the stage of the Youth Cultural Center in Bolesławiec. The building was closed in 2007 due to its technical condition. After obtaining EU funding, a thorough renovation was carried out. On March 23, 2012, it was reopened and is used by MDK and the Bolesławiec district.
  • In 2014, the 50th International Ceramic and Sculpture Open-Air took place.
  • Since 1994, the Ceramics Festival has been held in Bolesławiec on the penultimate weekend of August. It is a three-day (since 2012 five-day) festival aimed at promoting Bolesławiec pottery. Since 2007, the Clay Parade has been held during the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival.
  • Since 1990, Blues nad Bobrem has been organized - an international blues event combined with blues workshops. In 2007 they appeared, among others: Jam, Blues Night Shift and the President's Home Guard.
  • City Days take place every year in June
  • Another tradition is the Balkan Culture Day, which takes place at the beginning of summer.

Religious communities

thumb|Church of Our Lady of the Rosary

thumb|Roman Catholic Church of [[Cyril and Methodius|St. Cyril and Methodius]]

The following churches and religious associations conduct religious activities in the city:

  • Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland:
  • church in Bolesławiec
  • Evangelical Augsburg Church in Poland:
  • branch in Bolesławiec of the Evangelical-Augsburg Parish in Lubań
  • Greek Catholic Church:
  • pastoral facility in Bolesławiec, services take place in the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
  • Roman Catholic Church:
  • parish of Saints Cyril and Methodius, ul. Short 1
  • parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Mikołaja, ul. Kościelna 3
  • parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pl. Zamkowy 1b
  • parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, ul. Ptasia 5
  • parish of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, ul. Eliza Orzeszkowa 3
  • parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ul. Jarzębinowa 49
  • Priestly Brotherhood of Saint Pius X, chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Perpetual Help, ul. Garncarska 17
  • Pentecostal church:
  • "Good News" church
  • Jehovah's Witnesses:
  • Bolesławiec-Południe church
  • Bolesławiec-Północ church
  • Bolesławiec-Russian church
  • Bolesławiec-Zachód congregation
  • Kingdom Hall, ul. Sadowa 36 lok. 1.

Twin towns – sister cities

Bolesławiec is twinned with:

  • Acuto, Italy
  • Česká Lípa, Czech Republic
  • Mariagerfjord, Denmark
  • Molde, Norway
  • Nogent-sur-Marne, France
  • Pirna, Germany
  • Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Siegburg, Germany
  • Vallecorsa, Italy
  • Zbarazh, Ukraine

People associated with Bolesławiec

thumb|180px|[[Emanuel Mendel]]

  • Martin Opitz (1597–1639), German Baroque poet
  • Jonathan Eybeschutz (1690–1764). rabbi, Talmudist, Halachist, and Kabbalist
  • Carl Ferdinand Appun (1820–1872), German naturalist
  • Emanuel Mendel (1839–1907), German neurologist and psychiatrist, university professor, and director of a polyclinic
  • Reinhold Röhricht (1842–1905), German historian
  • Frank Russek (1875/1876-1948), Polish-born American businessman, co-founder of the Russeks department store chain
  • Fritz Schulz (1879–1957), German lawyer, jurist, writer, and legal historian
  • Dieter Hildebrandt (1927–2013), German cabaret artist
  • Łukasz Kubot (born 1982), Polish tennis player
  • Monika Sozanska (born 1983), Polish-German fencer

Honorary Citizens

Until July 2016, 12 people were awarded the title of Honorary Citizen.

  • Edward Bober (born 1930, died 2021): Catholic priest, Domestic Prelate of His Holiness. In 1969, he was sent on a mission to rebuild the former Evangelical church in Bolesławiec and create a new parish. In the years 1969–2006, parish priest. Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bolesławiec and dean of the Bolesławiec-Zachód deanery. The title was given in 2000.
  • Hubert Bonin (born 1912, died 2008): scout, founder of scouting in the Bolesławiec district, prisoner of the Stutthof concentration camp. (2005)
  • Adam Wacław Kowalski (born 1907, died 2003): watchmaker, one of the first Polish forced displaced persons from the Eastern Borderlands who came to Bolesławiec in 1945, thanks to his work the clock on the town hall tower was renovated after World War II. (2000)
  • Władysław Rączka (died June 8, 2008): Catholic priest, dean, long-time parish priest of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint. Nicholas. (1995)
  • Ryszard Tomczyk (2001)
  • Rolf Krieger (2002)
  • Bronisław Wolanin (2011)
  • Zbigniew Razik (2011)
  • Jan Filipek (2011)
  • Janina Bany-Kozłowska (2015)
  • Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter (2016)
  • Józef Gołębiowski (2016)

References

  • Adler, Beatrix. Early Stoneware Steins from the Les Paul Collection. Petersburg: Imhof, 2007.
  • Banas, Pawel and Jolania Sozanska, et al. Ceramika boleslawiecka z wytworni Reinolda = Bunzlauer Keramik aus dem Hause Reinhold. (exh. cat) Boleslawiec-Jelenia Gora: Moniatowicz, 2008.
  • Bober, Anna et al. Sladami Boleslawieckiej Kamionki. Boleslawiec: Muzeum Ceramiki, 2003.
  • Bober, Anna and Teresa Wolanin. Muzeum Ceramiki w Boleslawcu. Przcwodnik = Fuehrer durch das Bunzlauer Keramikmuseum. Boleslawiec-Jelenia Gora: Moniatowicz, 2001.
  • Boleslawiec. Bydgoszcz, PL: Wydawnictwo Telst, 2001.
  • Endres, Werner et al. Beitraege zur Bunzlauer Keramik (Nearchos 5). Innsbruck: Universitaet Innsbruck, 1997.
  • Gorecki, Bogdan. Artistic Ceramics Boleslawiec, 1950–2000. Boleslawiec, 2000.
  • Lippert, Inge, Werner Endres. Bunzlauer Keramik: Die Feinsteinzeugfabrik Julius Paul & Sohn in Bunzlau (1893–1945). Stuttgart: Arnoldische Verlag, 2001.
  • Mack, Charles R. & Ilona S. "Bunzlauer Geschirr: A German Pottery Tradition". Southeastern College Art Conference Review, 13, 2 (1997), 121–131.
  • Mack, Charles R. & Ilona S. "The Bunzlau Pottery of Germany and Silesia". The Magazine Antiques 152 (July 1997), 88–95.
  • Mack, Charles R. Bunzlauer Style: German Pottery from Jugenddtil to Art Deco.(exh. cat.) Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, 2002.
  • Reinheckel, Guenter. Oberlausitzer Töpferware. Husum, 2007.
  • Ristow, Imke. "Die Staatliche Keramische Fachschule Bunzlau und die Bunzlauer Betriebe Avantgarded und Töpfertradition", in Joanna Flawia Figiel, et al., Revolution der Muster: Spritzdekor-Keramik um 1930.Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Publishing for the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 2006, pp.&nbsp;135–45.
  • Schoene Sally. Brenn/Punkte: Keramische Fachschulen seit 1875, Landshut/Hoehr/Bunzlau. Düsseldorf: Hetjens-Museum, 2001.
  • Spaeth, Kristine. Töpferei in Schlesien: Bunzlau und Umgebung. Munich: Delp, 1981.
  • Spindler, Konrad. Bunzlauer Keramik im Germanischen National Museum. Nuernberg, 2004.
  • Starzewska, Maria & Teresa Wolanin Artystyczna Kamionla Boleslawiecka. Wroclaw: Katalogi Zbiorow Muzeum Narodowego we Wroclawiu, 1995.
  • Theis, Heinz-Joachim, Kunsttöpferei Friedrch Festersen (Berlin 1909–1922).Berlin: Keramik-Museum Berlin, 2009.
  • Weinhold, Rudolf. Töpferwerk in der Oberlausitz. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1958
  • Wernicke, Ewald. Chronik der Stadt Bunzlau von den Aeltesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart. Bunzlau 1884.
  • Zak, Katarzna. Boleslawiec : Miasto Ceramiki. Boleslawiec: Moniatowicz Foto Studio,2004
  • Official Site of Bolesławiec
  • Local news service and newspaper (in Polish)
  • Local companies and organizations
  • Jewish Community in Bolesławiec on Virtual Shtetl
  • Local news service and newspaper (in Polish)
  • Bolesławiec.org/Istotne Informacje – Local News Service (in Polish)
  • PKP Bolesławiec – railway station