Siemianowice Śląskie aka Siemianowice ś; is a city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 in Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...

 in southern 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...

, near Katowice

Katowice

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...

. The central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union

Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union

The Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia or Upper Silesia Metroplex, Silesia Metroplex / Silesia Metroplex is a union of 14 adjacent cities in the Polish province of Silesia....

 - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Located in the Silesian Highlands

Silesian Highlands

Silesian Highlands are highlands located in Silesia and Lesser Poland, Poland. It is the part of Lesser Poland Highlands Its highest point is the Mountain of St. Anne .-See also:...

, on the Brynica

Brynica

Brynica is a river in Silesia and Lesser Poland , Poland. It has a length of 55 km and is the main confluence of Czarna Przemsza. It has a source in Wymysłów, and flows through Piekary Śląskie, Wojkowice, Czeladź, Siemianowice Śląskie, Świerklaniec, Katowice, Sosnowiec and finally Mysłowice...

 river (tributary of the Vistula).

It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship

Silesian Voivodeship

Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centering on the historic region known as Upper Silesia...

 since its formation in 1999, previously in Katowice Voivodeship

Katowice Voivodeship

Katowice Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by the Silesian Voivodeship...

, and before then, of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship

Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship

The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...

. Siemianowice is one of the cities of the 2,7 million conurbation - Katowice urban area

Katowice urban area

The Katowice urban area, also known as the Upper Silesian urban area, is an urban area/conurbation in southern Poland. It is located in the Silesian Voivodeship and in a small part of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The Katowice urban area is the largest urban area in Poland and one of the largest...

 and within a greater Silesian metropolitan area

Silesian metropolitan area

The Upper Silesian metropolitan area is the metropolitan area in southern Poland and northeast Czech Republic, centered on the cities of Katowice and Ostrava in Silesia...

 populated by about 5,294,000 people. The population of the city is 71,621 (2008).

Siemianowice's present form results from the merging of the communes Siemianowice (German: Siemianowits) and Huta Laury (German: Laurahütte) in 1924. The new city was named Siemianowice Śląskie and gained town privileges

Town privileges

Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...

 in 1932.

The Origin of the Name

There are three hypothetical explanations:

• it comes from seven huts which were called Siedminowice/Siedmionowice
• it comes from the legend about Siemion/Siemian, Michał and Maciej or Siemion/Siemian, Michał and Jakub
• it comes from ziemia nawa which means earth taken away from water

Famous people

• Apostolis Anthimos
  Apostolis Anthimos
  Apostolis Anthimos is a jazz / rock oriented guitarist, drummer and keyboard player of Greek origin.He is a member of the Polish progressive rock band SBB....
  
   (born 1954), musician
• Barbara Blida
  Barbara Blida
  Barbara Blida was a Polish political figure who served in the nation's Parliament for 16 years , including a stint as a member of the cabinet, and whose controversial suicide in the midst of an investigation for corruption became front-page news in Poland as well as in a number of news outlets...
  
   (1949–2007), Polish politician
• Antoni Halor (born 1937), Polish film director, artist, writer
• Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck
  Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck
  Hugo Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck was a German-Austrian entrepreneur.-Biography:...
  
   (1811–1890), German industrialist, founder of Laurahütte
• Jacek Fröhlich (born 1965) , Automotive Designer, BMW
  BMW
  Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
  
   exterior design chief
• Michael Jary
  Michael Jary
  Michael Jary was a German composer.- Early years :...
  
   (1906–1988), German composer
• Bronisław Korfanty (born 1952), Polish senator
• Wojciech Korfanty
  Wojciech Korfanty
  Wojciech Korfanty , born Adalbert Korfanty, was a Polish nationalist activist, journalist and politician, serving as member of the German parliaments Reichstag and Prussian Landtag, and later on, in the Polish Sejm...
  
   (1873–1939), Polish politician
• Hermański Kryspin
  Hermanski Kryspin
  Kryspin Hermański is a trained ballet dancer. Born 1982 in Katowice, Poland.He is best known for his 2008 appearance as a competitor and the third place winner on the second season of You Can Dance - the Polish version of the American television show So You Think You Can Dance, which airs on the...
  
   (born 1984), Polish dancer
• Zygmunt Maszczyk
  Zygmunt Maszczyk
  Zygmunt Paweł Maszczyk is a retired Polish football player.He played mostly for Ruch Chorzów.He played for the Polish national team and was a participant at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Poland won the bronze medal, at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where Poland won the gold medal and at the 1976...
  
   (born 1945), Polish footballer
• Daniel Podrzycki
  Daniel Podrzycki
  Daniel Tomasz Podrzycki , was a Polish socialist politician.His career began from participation in the activity of illegal students' circles of Warsaw, which appeared at the end of the Seventies and were oriented at the beginning on the diccident Committee on Defending the Workers and later on the...
  
   (1963–2005), Polish politician
• Otto Josef Schlein (1895–1944), German doctor
• Józef Skrzek
  Józef Skrzek
  Józef Skrzek – is a Polish multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer, an important figure in Polish rock.-Life:In his early carrier, Skrzek was associated with the groups Ślężanie, Ametysty and Breakout...
  
   (born 1948), musician, leader of SBB band
• Henryk Średnicki
  Henryk Srednicki
  Henryk Średnicki is a retired amateur boxer from Poland, who represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics, starting in 1976 ....
  
   (born 1955), Olympic boxer
• Ernst Steinitz
  Ernst Steinitz
  Ernst Steinitz was a German mathematician.- Biography :Steinitz was born in Laurahütte , Silesia, Germany , the son of Sigismund Steinitz, a Jewish coal merchant, and his wife Auguste Cohen; he had two brothers. He studied at the University of Breslau and the University of Berlin, receiving his Ph.D...
  
   (1871–1928, German mathematician
• Witold Ziaja
  Witold Ziaja
  Witold Ziaja is a former field hockey player from Poland, who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1976 Summer Olympics....
  
   (born 1940), Polish field hockey player
• Krzysztof Globisz
  Krzysztof Globisz
  Krzysztof Globisz is a Polish theatre and film actor. His best known role is as Piotr Balicki, the newly qualified barrister whose opinion of capital punishment undergoes a radical change in A Short Film About Killing directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski.-External links:...
  
   (born 1957, Polish actor

Remarkable architectural structures

• Bytkow TV Tower
  Bytkow TV Tower
  Bytkow TV Tower is a 110 metre tall RadioTV tower at Bytkow, an urban part of the Polish town Siemianowice Śląskie and Katowice. Bytkow TV Tower, situated at is from unique design: it consists of a concrete tower as basement, which looks like a thin high-rise building with square cross section...
  
  
• Palace of the Donnersmarcks
• Zameczek Palace
• Archangel Michael's Church
• The Townhall
• The Brewery

Administrative Division

• Centrum - 11,98 km²
• Michałkowice - 5,46 km²
• Bańgów - 2,96 km²
• Przełajka - 2,7 km²
• Bytków - 2,3 km²

Industry

• Johnson Controls
  Johnson Controls
  Johnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....
  
   ( United States, Car Parts Manufacturing)
• Arcelor Mittal ( Luxembourg, Steel Manufacturing)
• Fastening Elements Factory ( Poland, Fastening Hardware Manufacturing)
• Military Mechanical Works ( Poland, Defence Systems)
• Fabud ( Poland, Building Company)
• Huhtamäki
  Huhtamäki
  Huhtamäki is a Finnish company, headquartered in Espoo, which manufactures and supplies packaging for various uses. Its primary outputs include cartons and containers for foods and other consumer goods, disposable tableware and films and laminates for such uses as adhesives, plasters and labels...
  
   ( Finland, Specialty Packaging Products)

Twin towns — Sister cities

Siemianowice Śląskie 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:
Köthen, Wattrelos

Wattrelos

Wattrelos is a commune in the Northern department in the Nord-Pas de Calais region in northern France. It is located on the border with Belgium, northeast of the city of Lille. It the fifth-largest component of the metropolitan Urban Community of Lille Métropole.-Heraldry:-References:* -External...

, Jablunkov

Jablunkov

Jablunkov is a town in Frýdek-Místek District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 5,750 , 23% of the population are Poles. Jablunkov lies between the Silesian and Moravian-Silesian Beskids mountain ranges, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, and is the...

, Mohács

Mohács

Mohács is a town in Baranya county, Hungary on the right bank of the Danube.-History:Two famous battles took place there:# Battle of Mohács, 1526# Battle of Mohács, 1687...

, Câmpia Turzii

Câmpia Turzii

Câmpia Turzii is a city in Cluj County, Romania, which was formed in 1925 by the union of two villages, Ghiriş and Sâncrai...

Links

• Sights
• Old photos