Stopnica

Town

Saints Peter and Paul Church in Stopnica

Coat of arms

Stopnica

Coordinates: 50°26′21″N 20°56′26″E / 50.43917°N 20.94056°E

Poland

Population

1,545

Stopnica [stɔpˈnit͡sa] is a town in Busko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Stopnica. It lies in Lesser Poland, approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) east of Busko-Zdrój and 55 km (34 mi) south-east of the regional capital Kielce. In 2007 the village had an approximate population of 1,500. In 1362 Stopnica was granted the civic rights by King Casimir III the Great. Stopnica lost the rights in 1870 and regained in 2015. During World War II the village was almost completely destroyed. Before the war Stopnica had a large Jewish community, which perished in the Holocaust.

In the Middle Ages, Stopnica used to be one of major urban centers of Lesser Poland’s Sandomierz Voivodeship. The village is located 15 kilometers east of Busko-Zdrój, on the Stopniczanka river, along National Road nr. 73. Stopnica is a road hub, where the road nr. 73 crosses with local roads 756 and 757. The name of the town most probably comes from early Slavic word stob, which was associated with settlements located near marshes, lakes and rivers. Unlike the contemporary town, early Stopnica was not located on a hill, but in the valley of the Stopniczanka, among marshes and ponds.

First mention of Stopnica (known then as Stobnica) comes from the 12th century, but a gord, or Slavic settlement, had existed here earlier. According to Jan Długosz’s chronicle Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae, in 1103 the parish priest of Stopnica, reverend Baldwin, became the Bishop of Kraków. In 1362 Stopnica was granted the civic rights by King Casimir III the Great. On King’s order, a castle, a hospital and a Gothic church were built here. In 1498, King John I Albert confirmed the status of Stopnica. At that time, it was the seat of a starosta, and the town enjoyed several privileges, granted to it by the kings of the Jagiellon dynasty (1410, 1439, 1442, 1444, 1445, 1487, 1520). In 1470 professor of Jagiellonian University Jan of Stobnica was born here.

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Wikipedia