Limanowa County
Limanowa County (Polish: powiat limanowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Limanowa, which lies 54 kilometres (34 mi) south-east of the regional capital Kraków. The only other town in the county is Mszana Dolna, lying 27 km (17 mi) west of Limanowa.
The county covers an area of 951.96 square kilometres (367.6 sq mi). As of 2006 its total population is 121,658, out of which the population of Limanowa is 14,632, that of Mszana Dolna is 7,529, and the rural population is 99,497.
Neighbouring counties
Limanowa County is bordered by Bochnia County and Brzesko County to the north, Nowy Sącz County to the east, Nowy Targ County to the south-west, and Myślenice County to the west.
Administrative division
The county is subdivided into 12 gminas (two urban and 10 rural). These are listed in the following table, in descending order of population.
Limanowa
Limanowa [lʲima'nɔva] (German: Ilmenau, Yiddish: לימינוב Liminuv) is a small town (population 14,624 as of 2005) in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is the capital of Limanowa County.
History
Mentions of the town date back to 1496, when it was documented as Ilmanowa, a rural estate that belonged to members of the szlachta. In 1520, ownership of the estate was passed from the Słupski family to Achacy Jordan, who subsequently established a judiciary.
Limanowa became a township in 1565, after being granted city rights by King Zygmunt August. The residents were not required to pay taxes to the Crown for a period of thirty years, throughout which the town rapidly developed. However, its economic strength declined due to the plague, and destruction caused by the Swedish invasion of 1655.
While the town was constantly damaged by fire because of its wooden buildings, much of its infrastructure was destroyed by the fire of 1759. It was not until the Polish Partitions, and Limanowa's incorporation into the Austrian province of Galicia, that it was rebuilt. The town began to flourish as a trading hub, hosting over eighteen markets per year.
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