Early

The earliest settlements around Tarnowskie Góry date back to over 20 thousand years BC. Traces of the Upper Paleolithic inhabitants were found in village of Rybna, within present-day town borders. During the Bronze Age people lived along the banks of river Stoła (Polish) or Stola, (name derived from German Stollenwasser Adit water earlier this river was known as "Rybna" (derived from a Polish word for "fish"), their tools, jewelry and weapons were excavated here, dating from between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. Silver, lead and zinc were bountiful in these grounds and the evidence of an early metal production dates back to at least 3rd century AD.

Medieval and Renaissance

A 1930 plaque commemorating the alleged discovery of the silver deposit in 1490 in the place of the current Florczak House at the Market Square

In the Middle Ages the region was inhabited by Lechitic Polish tribes, and in the 10th century it became part of the emerging Polish state under its first ruler Mieszko I of Poland. Repty Śląskie, a village, now within Tarnowskie Góry's town limits, was mentioned in an official papal document dating from September 12, 1201. The present-day district of Stare Tarnowice was the location of a motte-and-bailey castle from the 14th century, which is now an archaeological site.^[3] According to legend, the source of silver ore (solely responsible for the town's existence) was first discovered in 1490, when local peasant-farmer named Rybka found a strange, heavy, metallic stone while plowing the field near village of Tarnowice. He presented his find to a local priest and within less than three decades this place became the largest silver mining center in the area. Its population rivaled in size some of the major cities of the Renaissance world and prospectors were coming from all corners of the continent, some as far as Spain, all of this fueled by the massive amount and quality of ore, so high that on many occasions it was said to be practically pure, metallic silver.

Initial growth can be attributed to Jan II the Good, the last Duke of Opole and Racibórz of the first Polish dynasty of Piast, and George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (from the House of Hohenzollern), both of whom, in 1526, gave the town special privileges called "Akt Wolności Górniczej" (The Miners’ Freedom Act). This revolutionary document awarded freedom to any peasant who chose to become a miner in the area; the same year new settlement was officially elevated to the town-status, christened Tarnowskie Góry and received additional set of town privileges and rights, cote of arms and official seal followed few decades later in 1562.

16th-century Gwareks' bell-tower (Dzwonnica Gwarków) in the town center

In 1528, "Ordunek Górny" (the Mining Ordinance) strongly promoting farther exploration and offering a high percentage of profits to miners, was proclaimed and sparked a period of an explosive growth and prosperity. Many other associated businesses like trade, manufacturing, crafts etc., were rapidly developing and most of the old-town was already in place by 1540, including many of still existing brick and stone buildings and Protestant church. By the mid-16th century Tarnowskie Góry became the largest mining center in Upper Silesia and one of the largest in Europe; the combined length of main tunnels (main tunnels were the passages with clearance of over 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches) in height) constructed under the 1sq mile of old town alone, exceed 160 km (99 mi), still, representing only a small fraction of a total underground system.

Arcade houses at Gliwicka Street, dating back to the 16th century

Many Protestants found refuge in Tarnowskie Góry, and after the death of John II the Good (1532) town was ruled by the family of Hohenzollern, supporters of reformation movement. The first Protestant, wooden church was built in 1529 and two years later a stone structure was erected to replace it. In 1531, Szkola Różnowiercza (The Reformation School) was created and at the end of the 16th century was run by Daniel Franconius, famous scholar, educator, poet, and a propagator of Arianism.

Enlightenment

16th-century Gwarek House, in which in 1744 the first Lutheran service was held after the end of Habsburg rule, as mentioned by pastor Samuel Ludwik Zasadius

The prosperity of Tarnowskie Góry was abruptly halted by the Thirty Year War (1618–1648), and in 1676–77 its population was farther decimated by an outbreak of plague (which two years later reached the Austrian capital). In 1683, Polish King John III Sobieski rested in town on his way to the Battle of Vienna (where he led the famous Hussars branch of Polish cavalry to victory in defeating the Ottoman army and stopping the progress of their European invasion). In Tarnowskie Góry, Polish nobility welcomed the newly elected kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland, in July 1697 and January 1734, respectively, when they were heading for their royal coronations to Kraków.^[4][5]

December 16, 1740, was marked by the Prussian army entering the town during the first of the Silesian Wars; in 1742, Austrian domination ended and Tarnowskie Góry fell under Prussian rule. In 1742, after the end of Austrian rule, a Lutheran parish was established, whose first pastor was Polish religious writer and author of popular prayer-books Samuel Ludwik Zasadius.^[6] Around 1780 Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden opened a government-controlled mine as well as silver and lead foundry named "Frederyk" after Frederick William II, the king of Prussia.

Jews, with a few exceptions, were restricted or altogether banned from the area throughout the years; yet still they managed to have a great impact on the entire region's progress. Salomon Isaac, Jewish trade-agent and mining entrepreneur, was one of the greatest contributors to the development of the Sillesian metallurgical and mining industries and, ultimately, become one of the managing officers of the newly formed Prussian Office of Mining in Tarnowskie Góry.

Industrial Revolution

Railway station

In 1788, sparking the onset of the Industrial Revolution the first steam engine in continental Europe (and only the second one in the world) was imported from England and installed with a purpose of draining the underground waters. This was not a small task, miles of a deep adit or drainage-tunnel. A 600-metre part of former Fryderyk adit is a tourist route named Black Trout Adit. Its tunnels were cut through a solid bedrock and one of the system outlets, near Repty, became the main contributory of river Drama.^[7]

Although Napoleonic Wars damaged and put a burden of heavy taxation on it, the town experienced another boom of growth and prosperity in the 19th century. In 1803 one of world's first schools of mining was initiated and, during following few decades, many new factories and businesses opened including: paper mill, iron foundry, printing shop, brewery, soap factory and natural gas production plant. During that period, the town square and two main streets were paved, gas lighting illuminated the town and a sewage system was installed. "Górnośląska Spółka Bracka" (The Upper-Silesian Brotherhood Cooperative) was organized with its headquarters in Tarnowskie Góry; (this revolutionary institution functioned as an insurance company for miners and covered the entire Upper Silesian region with 17,821 initial members). In 1857 the first railroad, leading to Opole, reached the town and eight years later Warsaw–Vienna line cut-through as well. Throughout the next few decades, because of its strategic location, the number of railroad lines grew rapidly, and by the end of the 19th century Tarnowskie Góry was well on its way to becoming the second largest marshaling yard in Europe. Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in 1863.^[8] In 1873 a new county was formed in the area with Tarnowskie Góry as its capital; a hospital and court building were opened soon after.

Modern

Fryderyk Smelting Works in interwar Poland

In the beginning of the 20th century, the source of the silver ore dried out and the mining stopped completely. After World War I ended, between 1919 and 1921 three massive anti-German uprisings^[9] took place in entire Upper Silesian region and many of towns residents fought and supported the cause.^[10] Soon after the end of the third one, mandated by the Versailles Treaty, the Silesian Plebiscite was held, and an overwhelming majority of the Upper Silesia region voted for integration with newly independent Poland; in Tarnowskie Góry however, 82% of the participants favored Germany in large part due to "imported" votes.^[11] In 1922, after over 300 years of Austrian and Prussian domination, Tarnowskie Góry was returned to Poland.^[12] In the interwar period the 11th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Army was stationed in Tarnowskie Góry.

Polish Army barracks in the 1930s

At the onset of World War II in September 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany and Nazi German occupation began. On September 6–8, 1939, the Einsatzgruppe II entered the town to commit various crimes against Poles.^[13] Mass searches of Polish organizations, offices and houses,^[14] and mass arrests of priests, teachers, intelligentsia and fighters of three anti-German, Silesian Uprisings (1919–1921) took place. The synagogue was burned while German minority enthusiastically welcomed invading Nazi forces. Already in September 1939, the Germans murdered over 20 Poles in the present-day districts of Lasowice, Strzybnica and Repty Śląskie.^[15] Among the victims were miners, former insurgents and a school principal from nearby Chorzów.^[15] Germany established and operated a prison for Poles in the town.^[16] During the occupation, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, the leading Polish underground resistance organization) undertook a sabotage campaign against Nazi forces, railroad-transport and local industry. The Germans operated two forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town.^[17] Liberation of Silesia came in early 1945; in order to save the industrial infrastructure of the region, the Red Army opened an offensive supported by massive numbers of troops with minimal use of heavy artillery and air-bombardment. According to witnesses, the entire operation was extremely fast; countless, shoulder-to-shoulder, crowds of Russian soldiers passed through the town in matter of minutes followed by almost complete still.

Recent

Districts of Tarnowskie Góry

The decades following the end of World War II saw an influx of immigrants from other parts of Poland (including its former eastern provinces) to take over property of expelled German inhabitants, and as a result of planned-economy developments. Several large factories opened in Tarnowskie Góry's area including: FASER (the largest manufacturer of safety equipment and mining lamps in Soviet bloc), FAZOS (the manufacturer of automated mine-wall reinforcements), ZAMET (manufacturer of metallurgical equipment), CHEMET (manufacturer of chemical equipment), and Lead and Zinc Mill Miasteczko Slaskie (the second largest facility of this kind in Europe). All of these "Molochs" employed thousands of workers and emitted countless pollutants into the surrounding environment. For decades the railroad industry remained one of the largest local employers, however, due to an aging infrastructure, it slowly decreased in volume and other cities of the area begun to handle more and more of the rail traffic in terms of both cargo and passenger trains.

The fall of Iron Curtain in 1989 brought freedom back to Poland accompanied by the chaos of restructuring and privatization, which led to a small but steady decline of population, beginning in mid-1990s and lasting throughout the first decade of the 21st century. Today, Tarnowskie Góry is an industrial, cultural, educational, and technological center and tourist destination.