Łuków

Sister cities

• Sykkylven Municipality
• Tõrva Rural Municipality
• Tõrva City
• Lazdijai
• Baranivka
• Voisins-le-Bretonneux

History

Łuków was established as a grod, around the year 1233. It guarded eastern border of the Sandomierz Land, against warring tribes from the East including the Yotvingians and the Lithuanians. In the first half of the 13th century, Łuków was the seat of Lesser Poland's castellany, positioned in a strategic corner of the province. After Duke of Kraków and Sandomierz Bolesław V the Chaste brought here the Knights Templar (1250–1257), a Roman Catholic Diocese of Łuków was established here. It existed for a very short time (1254–1257), and was closed after protests of the Teutonic Knights. In the late Middle Ages, Łuków was frequently invaded and destroyed by the Old Prussians, Yotvingians, Lithuanians, and Tatars. The town life improved only after 1385 (see Union of Krewo), when Poland and Lithuania became allies. In 1403, Łuków was officially granted a charter, codifying its legal status. In 1445, King Casimir IV Jagiellon established weekly markets in Łuków. The town originally belonged to the Sandomierz Voivodeship, but in 1474, it became part of the Lublin Voivodeship. In the early 16th century, Chancellor of Poland Krzysztof Szydłowiecki fortified the town at his own expense. Łuków frequently burned (1517, 1528, 1530). Its period of prosperity in the first half of the 17th century came to an end after the Swedish Deluge (1655–1660), when it was ransacked and burned by the Swedes. In the second half of the 18th century, Łuków had some 3,000 residents. The town began a slow recovery, but in 1782, in a great fire, it almost completely burned, and as a result, its population decreased by 50%. At that time, Łuków was a prominent center of education in the region. In 1701, Piarist monks opened a college in Łuków, which later became one of the first in Poland to carry out the…