Piekary ¦l±skie is a dynamically developing community, culture and customs of which were shaped by 900- year tradition. It is a community with rich mining roots dating back to the 11th c. Piekary ¦l±skie is located in the area of Upper Silesia, which used to be a place of patriotic uprisings, as well as publishing and singing movements in past.
What is Piekary ¦l±skie like today?
It is a community of great ambitions and capabilities. Piekary owes its history and dynamism of the present development to the resourcefulness and attitude of the past and present generrations. Work, the spirit of enterprise and thrift are the basic features of the local inhabitants.
We do hope that while wandering around Poland you will visit also the city, which King Jan III Sobieski did not pass by only once, and where John Paul II - presently a Honorary Citizen of Piekary ¦l±skie - used to come every year as a cardinal.
We would like it to arouse your interest in our city, the authorities, which offer comprehensive assistance to all the people who will find Piekary an attractive place for realization of all their ideas and investment plans.
Based on promotional materials
From Pages of History
The name of Piekary ¦l±skie originates from bakers (pol. 'piekarz' - Engl. 'a baker') baking bread for the inhabitants of Bytom according to one version, and from caves ('pieczara' - 'a cave') left in mines after mining zinc and lead ores according to anther version.
During archeological excavations conducted in the period between two world wars, traces of a mining-metallurgic settlement from 2nd centuy AD were discovered. Roman coins found there proce, that an important trade route used to run through the settlement. First written documents concerning Piekary ¦l±skie date back to the 11th century. The documents describe a settlement in servivce to the medieval city of Bytom (presently the neighboring city of Bytom).
In the 12th and 13th centuries, settlement on the German law developed. In the 1303 -1218, the first church was constructed in Piekary and an independent parish was established. The development of zinc and lead mining in the 15th century facilitated the whole settlement's growth.
Due to hard working conditions in mines, the Piekary miners went out on strike in 1534. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, Piekary ¦l±skie was ruled by Germanized Silesian dukes. In the following centuries there were frequent ethnic conflicts.
A short visit of King Jan III Sobieski during the march of his troops to resuce Vienna in 1683 revived among the city residents the memory of broken ties with Poland. Peasants' rebellions against the rule of German magnates took place in the following years. King Augustus II Wettyn stayed in Piekary in 1697. He renewed the accession to the Catholic Church and swore pacta conventa in the local church.
In the 18th century, Gisze, a descendant of the Gizowie family from the Lublin Land, made Piekary richer through extension of the mines in Szarlej. Colonization and Germanization of Piekary was strengthened at that time. This resulted in strive for protection of the Polish character. In 1842 Alojzy Ficea partish - priest of Piekary, started construction of a new church which is an important center of the cult of the Virgin Mary to the present day.
