History of Luban town

In the first half of the XIII century the Czech kings that ruled over Milsko began a wide-scale action focused on a settlement process. One of its elements was setting up new towns. Somewhere around 1220 on the left side of river Kwisa, near an old village, a new royal town named Luban was created. According to the plan of the ruler, the town was built to supervise an important communication route (High Road), as well as, to strengthen local economic relationships. At that time Lubań was a part of a region called Milsko. As time went by, other names were used to describe the land between rivers Kwisa and Czarna Elstera. None of them proved to be as widespread as the name formed at the end of the XV century – Upper Lusatia. Luban was, and still is, an Upper Lusatian town, even though it has been closely connected to Lower Silesia region since 1815.

Although the town has been erected by the Czech monarch, its inhabitants served under various rulers over the centuries. Since the beginning till 1253 the town belonged to the Czech monarchs. Afterwards, the Brandenburg margraves’ of Ascanian reined these lands until 1319. Then for a short period of time from 1319 to 1346, the ruler of Lubań was Silesian duke Henry I Jawor. After his death Luban returned to the Czech monarchs. In the years 1469-1490 the town was ruled by Hungarian monarch Maciej Korwin. Then the early-modern era started with the reign of Jagiellonian dynasty (1490-1526). Next the town was ruled by Habsburgs, which controlled Upper Lusatia until the Peace of Prague in 1635. According to the treaty’s resolution the Upper Silesian margravate has been handed over to Saxony. For the next 180 years inhabitants of Lubań served Saxon princes. Due to the Congress of Vienna that marked the end of Napoleonic wars, significant changes were brought to Luban, as its inhabitants became subjects of Prussian king. They remained under his rule until the unification of Germany in 1871. Lubań remained inside the borders of Germany until 1945. After the World War II, the town has been granted to Poland.

Lubań can be proud of its almost-eight-century-old past. Every person that came into contact with its history certainly noticed that it is very rich but also pugnacious. Fate was not gracious to “town upon Kwisa river”. Numerous fires that completely destroyed buildings, epidemics and never-ending wars clearly marked the history of Lubań. What is important is that those difficult moments in the history exemplified the unwavering attitude of inhabitants. Despite of the situation that seemed to be hopeless, people revived the town with great zeal. Nevertheless we cannot say that the town’s history consists only of disasters. Over the centuries Lubań also had periods of peaceful development, as well as years of great prosperity. The most successful periods were: the first half of XVI century, the end of XVII century, second half of XIX century and the beginning of XX century.

History made Lubań an extremely interesting place. The borderlands of Upper Lusatia and Lower Silesia has always been a meeting place where various cultures, ideas, religions, political, economic and military interests intertwined with each other. As a consequence the scenery gained its distinctive appearance. You can easily find here the essence of the past just like the positive energy of the present. However, if you want to come up with your own opinion of this town, based on reliable knowledge, you have to know its past. Therefore we encourage you to read a book „Lubań wczoraj i dziś” (Lubań yesterday and nowadays) written by Waldemar Bena. The pdf book can be found through a link at the bottom of the page. Available only in Polish language.