Karpacz - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Karpacz ' is a spa town

Spa town

A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...

and ski resort

Ski resort

A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...

in Jelenia Góra County

Jelenia Góra County

Jelenia Góra County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998....

, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...

, south-western 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...

, and one of the most important centres for mountain hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

and skiing

Skiing

Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

, including ski jumping

Ski jumping

Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...

. Its population is about 5,000. Karpacz is situated in the Karkonosze

Karkonosze

Krkonoše is a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system . The Czech-Polish border, which divides the historic regions of Bohemia and Silesia, runs along the main ridge...

mountains - a resort with increasing importance for tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

as an alternative to the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

.

Karpacz is located at 480 to 885 m (1,574.8 to 2,903.5 ) 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...

. South of Karpacz on the border to the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

there is Mount Sněžka-Śnieżka

Snežka-Sniezka

Sněžka or Śnieżka is a mountain on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland, the most prominent point of the Silesian Ridge in the Krkonoše mountains...

(1,602 m).

History

The first settlements in area of Karpacz are noted by the official website of the city as being of probable Celtic origin and date to IV-III BC when they inhabited the region as part of gold digging taking place in the area. The first mention of permanent location within the current boundaries of the town is dated to the beginning of XV century and connected to destruction of village called Broniów, whose inhabitants moved to settle the area currently located at the altitude of town's railway station.

The settlement is mentioned in 1599 because of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

and iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

.
Since the construction of Krummhübel's first railway connection in 1895 history was connected with the development of metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

industries and with the progress of tourism. The village was part of Germany between 1871-1945. Krummhübel's German population was forcibly expelled

Expulsion of Germans after World War II

The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...

from the village between 1945 and 1947. The town was subsequently repopulated with ethnic Poles and renamed Karpacz.

Tourist attractions

In Karpacz Górny a gravity hill

Gravity hill

A gravity hill, also known as a magnetic hill , is a place where the layout of the surrounding land produces the optical illusion that a very slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope...

is located where bottles appear to roll uphill. There is also a Norwegian stave church

Stave church

A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing. The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. The load-bearing posts have lent their name to the building technique...

, moved here from Vang, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

in the mid-19th century.

Twin towns — sister cities

Karpacz is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

with: Gdynia

Gdynia

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...

, Poland

Poland

Hammel

Hammel is a town in central Denmark with a population of 6,881 , located in Favrskov municipality in Jutland. Until January 1, 2007, it was also the site of the municipal council of the now former Hammel municipality.-References:...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

Reichenbach

Reichenbach (Oberlausitz)

Reichenbach/O.L. is a town in the Görlitz district, in eastern Saxony, Germany. It is located near Görlitz.-Broadcasting station in Reichenbach/Oberlausitz:...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

Oberwiesenthal

Oberwiesenthal is a town and a ski resort in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony in Germany. It is situated in the Erzgebirge mountains, on the border with the Czech Republic, 19 km south of Annaberg-Buchholz, and 23 km northeast of Karlovy Vary. At , it is the highest town in Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Kamenz

Kamenz is a Lusatian town in eastern Saxony, Germany, with a population of 18,243, and is part of the Bautzen district. The town is located about northeast of Dresden and about northwest of Bautzen....

, Germany

Germany

Pec pod Sněžkou

Pec pod Snežkou

Pec pod Sněžkou is a small town at the base of Sněžka Mountain, near Trutnov in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic.The town is one of the most well-known and most frequented mountain resorts in the Czech Republic, with year-round use and with accommodation capacity of 8,500...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

Rewal

Rewal is a village in Gryfice County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Rewal. It lies approximately north-west of Gryfice and north of the regional capital Szczecin.Before 1945 the area was part of Germany...

, Poland

Poland

External links

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