Puławy

Infobox Settlement
name = Puławy

---

imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Czartoryski Palace.

---

image_shield = Puławy herb.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lublin
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Puławy County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Puławy (urban gmina)
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Janusz Grobel
established_title = Established
established_date = 16th century
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1906
area_total_km2 = 50.49
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 49839
population_density_km2 = auto
time zone = CET
utc_offset = +1
time zone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 51 | latm = 25 | lats = | latNS = N | longd = 21 | longm = 58 | longs = | longEW = E
elevation_m = 115
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 24-100 to 24-112
area_code = +48 081
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = LPU
website = http://www.um.pulawy.pl Puławy [IPA-pl|p|u|'|ł|a|w|y] is a town in eastern Poland, in Lublin Province, on the Wisła and Kurówka Rivers. According to the 2006 GUS (Central Statistical Office) census estimate, the town had a total population of 49,839. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County.

Close by is Kazimierz Dolny, a charming medieval village with a little old market square surrounded by ancient houses, shops, churches and a synagogue.

History

From the 17th century Puławy was the location of a rural residence of the Lubomirski, then the Sieniawski, noble families. In 1784 it became the property of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and his wife Izabela Czartoryska, "née" Fleming. Under their stewardship, after the loss of Poland's independence in 1795 the palace became a museum of Polish national memorabilia and a major cultural and political centre. After the suppression of the November Uprising of 1830–1831, the estate was taken over by the Russian government. The palace collections that had been saved became the nucleus of the present Czartoryski Museum in Kraków.

In 1869 an Agricultural and Forestry Institute was founded in Puławy. One of its first students, briefly, was the future Polish writer Bolesław Prus (who had spent part of his childhood in Puławy).

The town was incorporated in 1906.

On August 13, 1920, Józef Piłsudski, Poland's Chief of State, left Warsaw and established a military headquarters in Puławy. The Red Army held most of eastern Poland and was besieging Warsaw. Piłsudski's radio-monitoring, cryptological and intelligence services had detected a gap in the Soviet flanks in the region of Puławy and ordered a concentration of Polish forces in the surrounding area around the banks of the Wieprz River. On 18 August 1920 the Polish Army launched a counter-attack directed from Puławy that encircled and defeated a force of some 177,000 Soviet soldiers. The attack drove the Red Army from Poland and established Poland's security for two decades, until the German invasion of 1939.

During World War II, three German concentration camps operated around Puławy. The town's Jewish population of some 3,600 was first confined to a ghetto, then murdered at the Sobibór camp.

Since 1966, a large chemical plant ("Zakłady Azotowe Puławy") north of the town has been producing fertilizers. And recently it has become the largest producer of Melamine in the world.

The most valuable landmark in Puławy is the baroque-classicist palace and park complex, dating from 1676-79, remodelled 1722-36 and again around 1800. It includes classicist park pavilions dating from the early 19th century. One of these, the colonnaded round Temple of the Sibyl, is the setting of Bolesław Prus' memorable micro-story, "Mold of the Earth."

Gallery

Education

* Puławska Szkoła Wyższa

Science

* The Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation - State Research Institute
* The National Veterinary Research Institute
* The Institute of Artificial Fertilizers
* The Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture, Division of Apiculture

References

* "Encyklopedia Polski".