Sanok

Name	Sanok
Motto	Libera Regia Civitas Free Royal City
|image skyline	Collage of views of Sanok.png
Imagesize	250px
Image shield	POL Sanok COA.svg
Pushpin map	Poland
Pushpin label position	bottom
Coordinates region	PL
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Subdivision type1	Voivodeship
Subdivision name1	Subcarpathian
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name2	Sanok County
Subdivision type3	Gmina
Subdivision name3	Sanok (urban gmina)
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Wojciech Blecharczyk
Established title	Established
Established date	before 12th century
Established title3	Town rights
Established date3	1339
Area total km2	38.15
Population as of	2008
Population total	39588
Population density km2	auto
Timezone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Timezone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Postal code type	Postal code
Postal code	38-500
Area code	+48 13
Blank name	Car plates
Blank info	RSA
Twin1	Cestas
Twin1 country
Twin2	Fürstenwalde
Twin2 country
Twin3	Reinheim
Twin3 country
Twin4	Gyöngyös
Twin4 country
Twin5	Östersund
Twin5 country
Twin6	Humenné
Twin6 country
Website	http://www.sanok.pl }}

Sanok (; ; , Syanik;, in full The Royal Free City of Sanok, ), part of The Land of Sanok (, and Ruthenian Voivodeship), is a town in south-eastern Poland with 39,110 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. It's the capital of Sanok County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Previously, it was in the Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998) and in the Ruthenian Voivodeship (1340 - 1772), which was part of the Lesser Poland province.

This historic city is situated on the San River at the foot of Castle Hill in the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) region. It lies in a wooded, hilly area near the national road number 28, which goes along southern Poland, from Ustrzyki Dolne to Wadowice ( away). It is located in the heartland of the Pogórze Bukowskie part of Doły (Pits), and its average altitude is above sea level, although there are some hills located within the confines of the city.

(871-894), superimposed on the modern borders of European states. Note that some of the borders of Great Moravia are under debate.]]

Archaeology

Settled in prehistoric times, the south-eastern Poland region that is now Subcarpathia was overrun in pre-Roman times by various tribes, including the Celts (Anarti), Goths and Vandals (Przeworsk culture and Púchov culture). After the fall of the Roman Empire, of which most of south-eastern Poland was part (all parts below the San), the area was invaded by Hungarians and Slavs.

The region subsequently became part of the Great Moravian state. Upon the invasion of the Hungarian tribes into the heart of the Great Moravian Empire around 899, the Lendians of the area declared their allegiance to Hungarian Empire. The region then became a site of contention between Poland, Kievan Rus' and Hungary starting in at least the 9th century.

The first traces of settlement in the area of modern Sanok date back to at least the 9th century. The following century a Slavic fortified town (gord) was created there and initially served as a center of pagan worship. The etymology of the name is unclear, though most scholars derive it from the Celtic root - San ,;. Certain archaeological excavations performed on the castle hill and on Fajka hill near Sanok-Trepcza, not only confirm the written resources, but date the Sanok stronghold origin to as early as the 9th century. On Fajka hill, where probably the first settlement of Sanok was situated, some remains of an ancient sanctuary and a cemetery were found, as well as numerous decorations and encolpions in Kievan type. Also found were two seals of the Great Kievan Prince Rurik Rostislavich from the second half of the 12th century.

History

In 981 the gord, then inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Lendians, was made a part of Land of Czerwień. This area was mentioned for the first time in 981, when Vladimir I of Kiev took the area over on the way into Poland. In 1018 it returned to Poland, 1031 back to Rus', in 1340 Casimir III of Poland recovered it. The gord of Sanok in mentioned for the first time in Hypatian Codex in 1150. It was given the Magdeburg law by Boleslaw-Yuri II of Galicia in 1339 . crossed the mountains and seized the stronghold of Sanok with its governor as well as many villages in Przemyśl area, in Hypatian Codex, 1150.]] It can be found in a Ruthenian chronicle, the Hypatian Codex, where at the date of 1150 one can read: The Hungarian King Géza II of Hungary crossed the mountains and seized the stronghold of Sanok with its governor as well as many villages in Przemyśl area. The same chronicle refers to Sanok two more times, informing, that in 1205 it was the meeting place of a Ruthenian princess Anna with a Hungarian king and that in 1231 a Ruthenian prince made an expedition to "Sanok - Hungarian Gate".

After 1339 Galicia–Volhynia was seized by King Casimir III of Poland, who reconfirmed the municipal privilege of Sanok on 25 April 1366. At that time Sanok became the centre of a new administration district called Sanok Land which was a part of the Ruthenian Voivodeship. Several courts of justice operated in the town, including the municipal and rural courts of lower instance and also the higher instance court for the entire Sanok land, based on the German town law.

As early at the 17th century, an important trade route went across Sanok connecting the interior of Hungary with Poland through the Łupków Pass.

18 February 1846 - beginning of the Galician peasant revolt. During World War I, the Russians came to the town in May 1915 and stayed there until July, leaving the town significantly damaged.

During the Second Polish Republic (1919–1939), Sanok was a known centre of Ukrainian nationalism in Galicia, but also of cultural heritage of the Lemkos and other Rusyns. In 1943 the foundation of the Waffen-SS Division Galizien took place in heavily Ukrainian-populated Sanok, with many locals volunteering in the ethnic Ukrainian Waffen-SS. Because of fear of Ukrainian separatism by both Soviet and Polish authorities, the Ukrainian and Lemko population of Sanok and its region was mostly deported to the former eastern territories of Germany attached to Poland after World War II (the so-called Recovered Territories) during Operation Vistula (1946–1947). Some the Lemkos expelled returned to Sanok after 1989. (Sanok's ethnographic outdoor museum).]] Sanok contains an open air museum in the Biała Góra district, where examples of architecture from all of the region's main ethnic groups have been moved and carefully reassembled in a skansen evoking everyday rural life in the 1800s. Nearby stands Holy Ghost Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1786–1947) presently, the tserkva of the Orthodox cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

Economy

Sanok has a strong industry base - home to Stomil Sanok (established in 1932) and Pass Gummiwerke plants, producers of various rubber and metal-rubber seals, strings and laggings for automotive sector, construction industries and electrical household goods sector, PGNiG and Sanok Bus Car Factory "Autosan" (established in 1832), a producer of high capacity buses, cabins for the Polish Army and bodies for rail-vehicles. Stomil and Autosan is a 20 minute walk from the train station in Sanok, while the city centre is a 15 minute walk in the other direction.

Culture and education

The town has several schools and a branch of the Polish High School of Technology. The town also has a football club Stal Sanok and some other sport clubs (volleyball, swimming, handball, ice hockey). The Castle near the centre of the town houses a museum displaying over 300 fine icons.

Sport

A variety of choices of active pastime is offered in Sanok, both for the inhabitants and for visitors. Many facilities for different kinds of sports are provided. The greatest complex of those facilities is The Civic Sports and Recreation Centre, situated near the San River. The Centre includes: artificial speed skating ice-rink, a complex of indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a hotel, a tourist hostel, a camp-site, a sports stadium with technical facilities, etc. There is also another artificial ice-rink in the centre of the town, designed for hockey and managed by the hockey club HC Sanok. there are two more sports facilities at Stróżowska street: a stadium of sports club STAL, and a gymnasium of the Technical Schools Complex. In the summertime, one can enjoy sun- and waterbathing at the banks of the San river. In the wintertime, a ski-lift is operating in the nearby Karlików KH Sanok hockeyclub

Notable people

Adam Fastnacht,

Andrzej Bobola,

Jacob Avigdor,

Jan Grodek,

Jerzy Mniszech,

Josef Herzig,

Kazimierz Świtalski,

Katarzyna Bachleda-Curuś

Marian Pankowski,

Meir Shapiro,

Mikołaj Kamieniecki,

Ryszard Pacławski,

Shlomo Halberstam, first Bobover Rebbe

Stepan Popel,

Szymon Pawłowski,

Tomasz Beksiński,

Zdzisław Beksiński,

Zdzisław Peszkowski,

Zygmunt Łempicki

Demographics

In 1900 the town had 6123 inhabitants, 57% Polish, 30 % Jewish and others. The town had a high percentage of Jews before World War II. ;Population In 1589 - 1700, 1883 - 5.181, 1939 - 15.600, 2000 - 41 401 inhabitants. ;Ethnic Groups

Poles

See also

The Petroleum Trail International Tourist Trail

Muzeum Budownictwa Ludowego w Sanoku (Sanok Open Air Museum)

Folk Dance Ensemble Sanok

List of towns with German town law

Lendians

Great Moravia

Ostsiedlung

Walddeutsche

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria

Ruthenian Voivodeship

Lwów Voivodeship

Pogórzanie

References

;Notes

External links

Królewskie Wolne Miasto Sanok, official website

Webcam

Sanok - A Shtetl in Poland

Wikitravel Sanok

Szpital Specjalistyczny w Sanoku

Time zone :
UTC+1/SummerUTC+2

Category:Cities and towns in Subcarpathian Voivodeship Category:Sanok County