Pokój, Opole Voivodeship

Pokój [ˈpɔkui̯] (German: Bad Carlsruhe in O.S.) is a village in Namysłów County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Pokój.[2] It lies approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-east of Namysłów and 29 km (18 mi) north of the regional capital Opole.

Pokój
Former castle in Pokój
Coat of arms
Pokój
Coordinates: 50°54′9″N 17°50′13″E
Country Poland
VoivodeshipOpole
CountyNamysłów
GminaPokój
Population
 (2015)
 • Total1,452[1]
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
46–034
Car platesONA
Websitehttp://www.gminapokoj.pl

History
Protestant church in Pokój
Aerial photograph of Pokój in 1930. The Castle is located in the centre of the shot.

It was established in 1748 as a hunting lodge by Duke Charles Christian Erdmann, a scion of the House of Württemberg, whose ancestors had been enfeoffed with the Silesian Duchy of Oels in 1649. The adjacent settlement erected from 1763 with its streets radiating out from the ducal palace was modelled on and named after the Baden residence of Karlsruhe. When the Oels fiefdom fell to the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1792, Charles Christian Erdmann's cousin Duke Eugen of Württemberg retained the town and palace of Carlsruhe as a fee tail. In the winter of 1806-07 he hosted the young composer Carl Maria von Weber, who wrote his two symphonies (Jähns 50/51) here. In 1847 Carlsruhe received the status of a spa town (Bad).

In 1871 Carlsruhe together with the Prussian Province of Silesia was incorporated into the German Empire. By the 1945 Potsdam Agreement the area fell to Poland (see Territorial changes of Poland after World War II).

At the end of World War II the palace was destroyed in the course of the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army. The Baroque Sophia's Church finished in 1775 is preserved, as is the extended English garden laid out by the Württemberg dukes. An annual Carl Maria von Weber festival is held to commemorate the composer's stay.

Pokój's coat of arms shows the Württemberg three black antlers on the right, and the Upper Silesian eagle of the Dukes of Opole on the left side.

Notable people
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References
  1. "Wieś Pokój". www.polskawliczbach.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  2. "Central Statistical Office (GUS) - TERYT (National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal)" (in Polish). 2008-06-01.

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