Rydzyna | |
|---|---|
 Rynek (Market Square) with the Baroque town hall and Holy Trinity column | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Rydzyna | |
| Coordinates:51°48′N16°40′E / 51.800°N 16.667°E /51.800; 16.667 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Greater Poland |
| County | Leszno |
| Gmina | Rydzyna |
| Founded | Early 15th century |
| Area | |
• Total | 2.17 km2 (0.84 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
• Total | 2,539 |
| • Density | 1,170/km2 (3,030/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 64-130 |
| Vehicle registration | PLE |
| Website | http://www.rydzyna.pl |
| Designated | 2017-03-15 |
| Reference no. | Dz. U. z 2017 r. poz. 662[1] |
Rydzyna (pronouncedRI-DZI-NA[rɨˈd͡zɨna]) is a historic town in westernPoland, located in the southern part of theGreater Poland Voivodeship, 10 km south ofLeszno, in theLeszno County, close to the mainPoznań -Wrocław highwayS5.[2]
The town's population is 2,446 (2006).
It was the seat of KingStanisław Leszczyński during his first short reign from 1704 to 1709. Rydzyna is commonly referred to as "the pearl of thePolish Baroque" due to its preserved Old Town core and a high abundance of historical monuments.
It was founded at the beginning of the 15th century by Jan fromCzernina, a descendant of theWierzbno family, a knight of kingWładysław II Jagiełło. Rydzyna was aprivate town, administratively located in the Kościan County in thePoznań Voivodeship in theGreater Poland Province of the Polish Crown.[3] At the end of the 17th century the town and its environs were owned by well-known magnates, theLeszczyński and then theSułkowski families, whose investment in the town resulted in its current nickname as "the pearl of the Polish baroque". The 11th Polish Infantry Regiment was stationed in Rydzyna.[4]
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In theSecond Partition of Poland, in 1793, the town was annexed byPrussia. After the successfulGreater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-livedDuchy of Warsaw, and following its dissolution in 1815, it was reannexed by Prussia. In 1871, the town became part ofGermany and was known asReisen in German. Until 1887, Reisen belonged to the Fraustadt district in thePrussianProvince of Posen. From 1887 to 1920, it was part of theLissa district. According to the census of 1905, the town had a population of 1,123, of which 814 (72.5%) wereGermans and 309 (27.5%) werePoles.[5] AfterWorld War I, Poland regained independence as theSecond Polish Republic, and then regained the town in accordance to theTreaty of Versailles.
During the Germaninvasion of Poland which startedWorld War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by theWehrmacht. It wasannexed byNazi Germany and was incorporated into the newly formed province ofReichsgau Wartheland. From October 1939 to February 1940, during theIntelligenzaktion, the Germans carried out mass executions of Poles from the Leszno County, including Rydzyna, in the forest near the town.[6] In February 1940, the Germans arrested local Polish parish priest Aleksander Sterczewski, who was imprisoned inRawicz, then deported toconcentration camps and killed inDachau (seeNazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland).[7] Towards the end of the war, the town was captured by theRed Army in the spring of 1945 and was restored to Poland.
The most historically important site in Rydzyna isRydzyna Castle, formerly the residence of king Stanisław I and the Sułkowski princes. The castle in Rydzyna was built at the beginning of 15th century by Jan of Czernina. At the end of the 17th century, Italian architects Joseph Simon Bellotti and Pompeo Ferrari erected the present Baroque castle on its ancient foundations. The first owners of the castle were the Leszczyński family. Together with its park and surrounding areas, it was one of the most splendid palaces in Poland. Between 1704 and 1709 it was a residence of the Polish king Stanisław I. In 1709, during theGreat Northern War, the castle was partly burnt by the tsar's soldiers. However wall-paintings and stucco works in representative rooms, made by the best Italian artists, were not destroyed completely, and the castle was restored and expanded by Prince August Sułkowski, who purchased the Leszczyński estates in 1738. The castle, together with its adjacent park and the surrounding terrain, forms one of the most valuable castle-park complexes in Poland.
Other historical monuments in Rydzyna are baroque tenement houses around theRynek (Market Square) together with the town hall and the baroque parish church, all built in the 18th century and designed by the same architects as the castle. The evangelical church building now serves as a concert hall. In the center of the Market Square a uniqueHoly Trinity column was erected in 1761 by sculptor Andrew Schmidt in memory of the plague that decimated the town in 1709. The monumental former annexes to the castle, facing its north side, are in Classic style. All the monuments are the works of prominent architects brought in from all over Europe by the Leszczyński and Sułkowski families.
At one time there were over 40 windmills around Rydzyna. Today only one remains, the "Józef" windmill from the 18th century, which was renovated in 2003. It now houses the Museum of Agriculture and Milling.
The PolishS5 highway runs nearby, west of the town, and theVoivodeship road 309 passes through the town itself.
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