A short history of Jelenia Góra, Cieplice and Sobieszów

The name, the coat of arms and the oldest legends of Jelenia Góra share one motif – the deer. The little-deer sculptures scattered across the city today are a modern echo of a symbolism that has accompanied it since the Middle Ages. Here is a brief history of the city and two of its most colourful districts.

Jelenia Góra – a city under the sign of the deer

The German name Hirschberg means literally „deer mountain"; in the records it appears as Hyrzberc (1281), Hyrspergk (1305) and Hirsberg (1521). After 1945 it was translated directly into Jelenia Góra. To this day the city's arms show a red deer on a silver shield, standing on three green hills, holding three golden acorns in its mouth.

The first reliable mention dates from 1281; the town was organised by settlers brought in by Bolesław II the Horned in the mid-13th century. In 1392 Jelenia Góra passed to the Bohemian Crown, and later to the Habsburgs. Its golden age was weaving and the linen trade: from the second half of the 16th century the town was famed for fine veils, and an imperial privilege of 1630 gave it a monopoly on the linen trade – its merchants carried the cloth across Europe. That prosperity ended when Silesia was annexed by Prussia in 1742.

In the 19th century the railway opened the city to the world (lines from Zgorzelec in 1866 and from Wrocław in 1867), and the Karkonosze became a tourist destination. The German chapter closed in May 1945: on 9 May 1945 the Red Army entered the city, and in 1945–1946 the German population was expelled and replaced by Polish settlers. The Polish name was confirmed in May 1946. The neighbouring towns of Cieplice, Sobieszów and Maciejowa were incorporated in 1976, and Jagniątków in 1998.

Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój – hot springs and the Schaffgotsch family

The first settlement by the springs – „Clarus Fons" (the Clear Spring) – was founded by Augustinians brought from Wrocław by Bolesław the Horned in 1261. In 1281 Bernard of Lwówek granted the place to the Knights Hospitaller of Strzegom, and in 1403 Gotsche Schoff II settled Cistercians here, who managed it for nearly four centuries. From the mid-14th century until 1945 Cieplice belonged to the powerful Schaffgotsch family, who in the 17th century made the local palace their main residence (the present Schaffgotsch Palace dates from 1784–1809).

Cieplice grew into a spa with thermal waters among the warmest in Poland. A spa theatre opened (1836), along with a Spa Park and new transport links. The town gained municipal rights and the name Bad Warmbrunn in 1935. After 1945 it became part of Poland, in 1946 it was named Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, and in 1976 it became a district of Jelenia Góra.

Sobieszów and Chojnik Castle – a fortress above the valley

Sobieszów – until 1945 Hermsdorf unterm Kynast (Hermsdorf beneath the Kynast) – belonged to the Schaffgotsch family from the 14th century and grew at the foot of Chojnik Castle. It received municipal rights in 1962 and was incorporated into Jelenia Góra in 1976.

The stone castle of Chojnik (German Kynast) was built in the 1350s; the first mention dates from 1364. From 1418–1419 it belonged to the Schaffgotsch family, who extended it through the 15th and 16th centuries. Its glory ended on 31 August 1675, when lightning started a fire and the castle was never rebuilt. The picturesque ruin became a tourist attraction as early as the 19th century (a shelter from 1860); today it houses a PTTK mountain shelter, and since 1991 it has hosted the „Golden Bolt of Chojnik Castle" crossbow tournaments.