Why visit Szklarska Poreba?

The areas on which Szklarska Poreba is located belonged in the early Middle Ages to the so-called “Szklarska Poreba”. The isthmus separating Silesia, which was part of the Piast state, from Bohemia, then belonging to the Přemyslids. Subsequently, in the era of the district split, they were part of the duchies of Wroclaw, Lwowec and Jawor-Swidnica in turn. After the heirless death of the last duke of Świdnica-Jawor, Bolko II the Lesser, his heiress became Duchess Anna of Świdnica, the wife of the King of Bohemia and Emperor of the German Reich Charles IV of Luxembourg. Thus, the described area became part of the Czech Crown. With it, it subsequently became part of the Habsburg state. After the First Silesian War, Szklarska Poreba along with Silesia passed in 1742. To Prussia. After the reorganization of Prussia in 1815. It belonged to the Silesian Province and was part of Jelenia Gora County from 1816 to 1945, forming its own rural municipality. After 1945, under the Potsdam Agreement, Szklarska Poreba, along with all of Silesia, became part of the Polish state.

In 1281, Bernard Zwinny, Duke of Lwów, donated lands in the vicinity of present-day Cieplice to the Order of Strzegom of the Joannites. In addition, in July of the same year, the monks purchased for 100 silver fines and 2 barrels of wine additional lands in the Jizera Mountains, covering the area of present-day Szklarska Poreba (it was part of the High Ridge from Piechowice to the High Mine bounded by the Kamienna and Mala Kamienna rivers), due to the ore and quartz mined there. However, the Order moved out of the area after 10 years, and the knight Gotsche Schoff became the new owner, in the 14th century. His descendants, the Schaffgotsch family of Cieplice, ruled the entire Silesian part of the Karkonosze and Jizera Mountains from the Middle Ages until 1945. These areas had been penetrated by Walloon treasure hunters since the Middle Ages, as evidenced by records in their ledgers, which mention, among other things, the High Castle. In a Walloon book from 1456, we read So, ask in Jelenia Gora about the village called Piechowice, then it will be Kopaniec. Go up the Upper Road, then e direction to the Black Mountain through the glass factory, so you will reach the White Water or White Creek, here you will find gold to wash and amethysts as much as you want.

The first mention of a glassworks in Szklarska Poreba comes from 1366-1372, with the mentioned documents saying that this glassworks “stood here for a long time” and that its owner was Konrad Kuncze. The development of such activities resulted in intensive logging. Behind, needed for smelting, timber smelters and, associated with them, human settlements moved up stream valleys. The name Szklarska Poreba is connected with this process, as shepherd settlements were established on the Szklarska Poreba, which gave rise to today’s city. This first glass factory stood in Lower Szklarska Poreba at the intersection of today’s ul. Piastowska and Wiejska Street. In 1490, the first church was also built here. This is also where the center of the village was until the 19th century, with a courthouse inn next to the church. In 1575. A smelter on the Bohemian Stream was established by Czech master Bèdřich, producing white lead glass. It began a new era in the history of Szklarska Poreba – as the glass produced here found a market at princely and bishops’ courts. On the other side of the Kamienna River, on the banks of the Kurzacka Woda River, a settlement was then established (today’s Szklarka) in which potash from wood ash was produced for the smelter and firewood was prepared.