Gorlice is a city and an urban municipality ("gmina") in south eastern Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 with around 29,500 inhabitants (2008). It is situated south east of Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 and south of Tarnów

Tarnów

Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...

 between Jasło and Nowy Sącz

Nowy Sacz

Nowy Sącz is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County, but is not included within the powiat.-Names:...

 in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Małopolska Voivodeship , or Lesser Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, in southern Poland...

 (since 1999), previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship

Nowy Sacz Voivodeship

Nowy Sacz Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government, located in southern Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by Lesser Poland Voivodeship...

 (1975–1998). It is the capital of Gorlice County

Gorlice County

Gorlice County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Gorlice,...

.

The city lies in the Ropa and Sękówka River Valleys, surrounded by several mountain ranges of the Carpathian Mountains

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

, namely their part called Beskid Niski (Low Beskid) massive. It is located in the heartland of the Doły (Pits), and its average elevation above sea level

Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

 is 380 metres (1,247 ft), although there are some more considerable hills located within the confines of the city. The city is nowadays situated in a heavily populated region 14.6 miles from Jasło, 21.2 miles from Nowy Sącz, 25.5 miles from Tarnów

Tarnów

Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...

, and 62.6 miles from Kraków.

Gorlice was founded during the reign of Casimir the Great in 1354 by German settlers from Görlitz

Görlitz

Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...

 (see also Walddeutsche

Walddeutsche

Walddeutsche Germans , sometimes simply called Polish Germans, the name for a group of people, mostly of German origin, who settled during the 14th-17th century on the territory of present-day Sanockie Pits, Poland, a region which was previously only sparsely inhabited because the land was...

). The city was the focal point of the German Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive

Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive

The Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive during World War I started as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the total collapse of the Russian lines and their retreat far into Russia...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, in May, 1915. Hence the "Gorlice fair" or "Gorlice days" held every year during the May Bank Holidays and adjoining days, which are enjoyed by many visitors both domestic and from abroad.

See also

• Walddeutsche
  Walddeutsche
  Walddeutsche Germans , sometimes simply called Polish Germans, the name for a group of people, mostly of German origin, who settled during the 14th-17th century on the territory of present-day Sanockie Pits, Poland, a region which was previously only sparsely inhabited because the land was...