Starachowice is a city in southeastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), with 49,513 inhabitants (31.12.2017). It is the capital of Starachowice County in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is situated upon the River Kamienna, a tributary of the Vistula River, among hills and forests.

History

thumb|left|upright|Holy Trinity church which dates back to the 17th century

In the location of present-day Starachowice, a forge existed, which in the 16th century belonged to the Starzechowski family (most probably, the name of the town comes from this family). The oldest known mention of Starachowice comes from 1547. The settlement, which was built around the forge, belonged until 1817 to the Cistercians from Wąchock Abbey, located nearby. It was the monks who in 1789 initiated construction of a blast furnace (see also Old-Polish Industrial Region). In the meantime Polish bishop Bogusław Radoszewski founded the town of Wierzbnik in 1624, which was granted town rights by Polish King Sigismund III Vasa. Later that same day, the suburb of Wanacja (present-day district of Starachowice) was the site of a battle between German and Polish troops, after which German troops committed a massacre of over 20 Polish civilians. Afterwards it was occupied by Germany and in 1940 the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Polish intelligentsia. Poles were used as forced labour in the local factory. Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children.

After the war, the town prospered as an important industrial center. Besides Starachowice Works, truck producer FSC Star was opened in 1948. A Star truck was used as the basis for the first Popemobile for Pope John Paul II's during his first visit to his home country as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church (1979). When capitalist system was reintroduced in 1989, the situation in Starachowice worsened, and unemployment grew drastically. The town currently has a special economy zone with lower tax rates to help the settlement of new industry.

Sport

There is the Municipal Stadium in the city. Local football teams are:

  • Star Starachowice, a football club which for several years played in the Second Division
  • Juventa Starachowice - football club

thumb|220px|Unique geological denudation - monument to geological features (length- of 400 m, height- 5-8 m)

thumb|220px|Starachowice Culture Centre

thumb|Historic blast-furnace plant, now a museum

Notable people

  • Bogusz Bilewski (1930–1995), Polish actor
  • Krystyna Janda (born 1952), Polish film and theater actress
  • Krzysztof Lipiec (born 1959), Polish politician and member of the Sejm (Polish parliament)
  • Rafał Wójcik (born 1972), Polish long-distance runner
  • Radosław Majecki (born 1999), Polish professional goalkeeper
  • Adrian Gunia (born 2000), Polish kickboxer

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Starachowice is twinned with:

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  • Aurich, Germany
  • Rochdale-Heywood, Great Britain
  • Schweinfurt, Germany
  • Skövde, Sweden
  • Vechta, Germany

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  • Giżycko, Poland
  • Candelo, Italy
  • Almonacid de la Cuba, Spain
  • La Roche-sur-Foron, France

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  • Jewish Community in Wierzbnik and Starachowice on Virtual Shtetl

References