History Görlitz

the landeskrone, literally land s crown , local mountain of görlitz, seen zgorzelec

as small sorbian village named gorelic in region of upper lusatia in march of lusatia of holy roman empire, temporarily conquered , held kingdom of poland during bolesław chrobry s invasion of lusatia between 1002 , 1031, after region fell march of lusatia under counts of margraviate of meissen. around 1072 village assigned duchy of bohemia. date of town s foundation unknown. however, goreliz first mentioned in document king of germany, , later holy roman emperor, henry iv in 1071. document granted görlitz diocese of meissen, under bishop benno of meissen. currently, document can found in saxony state archives in dresden. origin of name görlitz derived slavic word burned land , referring technique used clear land settlement. zgorzelec , czech zhořelec have same derivation. in 13th century village gradually became town. due location on via regia, ancient , medieval trade route, settlement prospered.

in following centuries görlitz wealthy member of lusatian league, consisted of bautzen, görlitz, kamenz, lauban, löbau , zittau. in 1352 during reign of casimir great, lusatian german colonists görlitz founded town of gorlice in southern poland near kraków.

görlitz in 16th century

the protestant reformation came görlitz in 1520s , last half of 16th century, , surrounding vicinity, became lutheran.

after suffering years in thirty years war, region of upper lusatia (including görlitz) ceded electorate of saxony in 1635. after napoleonic wars, 1815 congress of vienna transferred town kingdom of saxony kingdom of prussia. görlitz subsequently administered within province of silesia, and, after world war i, province of lower silesia, until 1945.

near end of world war ii, german troops destroyed bridges crossing lusatian neisse. redrawing of boundaries in 1945—in particular relocation of german-polish border present oder-neisse line—divided town. right bank became part of poland , renamed zgorzelec polish communist government in 1948, while main portion on left bank remained part of germany, within state of saxony. when east german states dissolved in 1952, görlitz became part of dresden district, states restored upon german reunification in 1990.

on 27 june 1994, town became seat of roman catholic diocese of görlitz, remains lutheran protestant stronghold.

in 2002 lake berzdorf, located south of görlitz, began flood. altstadtbrücke (literally old town bridge) between görlitz , sister city zgorzelec rebuilt between 2003 , 2004. officially opened on 20 october 2004. poland signed schengen agreement (20 december 2007), movement between 2 banks of river again became unrestricted, since border controls eliminated. indeed, users of new pedestrian bridge not told signs leaving 1 country , entering another.

whilst town preserved, notably grey , colourless under communist east german rule. since reunification, , of 2013, on 700 buildings have been renovated. popular place elderly of germany retire, being quiet , relatively affordable german standards. tourist potential rapidly expanding, being eastern counterpart towns such heidelberg. in case of görlitz, of funding renovations of towns buildings comes anonymous donor, who, 1995 onward, has sent annual donation of on €500,000, totalling on €10,000,000.