
Wieluń lies almost in the middle of a triangle, the tops of which are Lodz, Czestochowa and Wroclaw. The city is not large, occupying less than seventeen square kilometers, with a population of over twenty-two thousand.
The town was founded in the second decade of the thirteenth century, while it received its municipal rights in 1283, about sixty years later. Wieluń was a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. Sejmiks of the Wieluń land held their sessions there. Wieluń is also said to have been the site of the outbreak of World War II, although historical sources indicate that it was attacked six minutes after the first bombing in Tczew.
The first of September 1939 saw the bombing of the city. At four forty in the morning, Luftwaffe dive bombers appeared over the buildings and unleashed bombs on the unsuspecting residents of the city.
The city consists of several parts. The oldest is, of course, the City Center, which, unfortunately, as a result of the bombing was destroyed in ninety percent. Within the downtown area is located the Okólna Estate. Part of the streets are included in the paid parking zone, so it is not worth driving the car up to the center itself.
Since 1966, the XXV-lecia PRL housing estate, today called the Armii Krajowej housing estate, was built. It is located between Sieradzka, Grunwaldzka, Pulaski and Traugutta streets. Further on is the Bugaj Estate, formerly located on the territory of the village of Bugaj, which was incorporated into the borders of Wieluń five years before the outbreak of World War II. The Kopernika Estate was built in '72-'75, with the so-called Poniemiecki Estate, created by the occupiers in the 1940s, adjacent to the estate to the south.
In addition, there are also the Stare Sady estate, the Stefan Kardynała Wyszyńskiego estate and the Wojska Polskiego estate.
From a tourist's perspective, another noteworthy site is Berlinek, an area between the Stare Sady estate and the railroad trackage connecting Wieluń with Herb Nowe, which was also built during the Nazi onslaught. The settlement was distinguished by architecture characteristic of German villages, although this character is now fading, all through the development of single-family housing. Kijak, on the other hand, is the site of a now defunct Jewish cemetery. It existed there until 1939.
Despite the turbulence of the twentieth century, Wieluń and its surroundings are primarily a trail of wooden monuments. A legend about the origin of the town says that its name came from a distortion of the word deer. This is because Prince Władysław Odonic was said to be hunting in the forests surrounding the town. He was supposed to have wounded a deer and, chasing the wounded animal, fell into a clearing where he met the Lamb of God with a flag and a chalice of blood. The prince was to erect a shrine at the spot where he saw the Lamb, around which a settlement and later a town were subsequently built. However, it seems more likely to translate that the name of the city comes from the Slavic word vel, a term for a marshy area.
There is the Krakow Gate, built in the Gothic style, and a classicist town hall attached to it.
The walls ended with a Tower, known as the Torment, where the executioner formerly held office.
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© 2025 Sindbad
Technical support, assistance, payments: Sindbad IT