Gryfice

Gryfice
Sights of Gryfice
Flag Coat of arms
Gryfice
Coordinates: 53°54′53″N 15°11′55″E / 53.91472°N 15.19861°E / 53.91472; 15.19861
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	West Pomeranian
County	Gryfice County
Gmina	Gmina Gryfice
City rights	1262
Government
• Mayor	Andrzej Wacław Szczygieł
Area
• Total	12.4 km2 (4.8 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• Total	16,632
• Density	1,300/km2 (3,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	72-300
Car plates	ZGY
Website	http://www.urzad.gryfice.eu/

Gryfice ([ɡrɨˈfʲit͡sɛ]; Kashubian: Grëfice), formerly known by its German name Greifenberg, is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland with 16 632 inhabitants (2008). It is the capital of Gryfice County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Szczecin Voivodeship (1975–1998).

The Battle of Niekładź took place in the area of Gryfice in 1121, in which Polish ruler Bolesław III Krzywousty defeated Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania and Swantopolk I, Duke of Pomerania

In 1262, throughout the German Ostsiedlung, Wartislaw III, Duke of Pomerania founded a town under Lübeck law on the Rega river. After his death, his successor, Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania, named the settlement Civitat Griphemberch super Regam (Griffinsmountain) after the coat of arms symbol of the Dukes of Pomerania. In 1365 the town entered the Hansa and prospered due to the right of free navigation on the Rega.

A town wall was built and at the end of the 13th century the construction of the St. Mary’s church was begun. In a document of 1386 a Latin school is mentioned, which is generally called the oldest in Pomerania. After the death of the last Pomeranian Duke and by the Treaty of Westphalia Greifenberg became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 and part of Imperial Germany in 1871. In 1818 the town became the capital of the Greifenberg district (Kreis Greifenberg).