Wieluà  () is a town in south-central Poland with 21,624 inhabitants (2021). The town is the seat of the Gmina Wieluà  and Wieluà  County, and is located within the à Âódà º Voivodeship. Wieluà  is a capital of the historical Wieluà  Land.
Wieluà  has a long and rich history. In the past, it used to be an important urban trade centre of the Kingdom of Poland. Several Polish kings and notables visited the town, but following the catastrophic Swedish Deluge (1655âÂÂ1660), Wieluà  declined and never regained its status. In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland, it was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. The Bombing of Wieluà  is considered to be the first World War II bombing in Europe. It killed at least 127 civilians, injured hundreds more and destroyed the majority of the town.
Wieluà  was first mentioned in a 1282 document as the town of Velun (in 1283: Vilin). The exact origin of the name has not been explained. Historians claim that either it comes from a Slavic word "vel" (which means a wetland), or from a given name Wielisà Âaw. Jan Dà Âugosz wrote that Wieluà  was located in the area abundant with water, which may mean that the former theory is correct.
The Land of Wieluà  (ziemia wieluà Âska, Terra Velumensis) was a historic land of the Kingdom of Poland and the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth, which for centuries was part of Sieradz Voivodeship, Greater Poland Province.
It was based on the medieval Castellany of Ruda (located some from Wieluà Â), which was established in the 10th or 11th century. Ruda was the seat of a castellan and a Roman Catholic archdeacon, which made it the center of local administration. In the mid-13th century, however, the importance of Ruda diminished, at the expense of Wieluà Â, which was located in a more convenient spot. In 1281, the castellan's office was moved to Wieluà Â, and by 1299, the term Land of Ruda (Ziemia rudzka) had been replaced in documents by Land of Wieluà  (Ziemia wieluà Âska).
The medieval Castellany of Ruda, which was established in the 10th or 11th century. The Castellany of Ruda was first mentioned in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno, and during the period known as Fragmentation of Poland (see Testament of Bolesà Âaw III Wrymouth), it was part of the Seniorate Province. As a result of ongoing power struggles in the districts during Fragmentation of Poland, Mieszko III the Old regained Greater Poland in 1181 and incorporated the Wieluà  Land into it. In the late 12th century, the Castellany was acquired by Duke Wà Âadysà Âaw Odonic, and in 1217 it became property of Wà Âadysà Âaw III Spindleshanks. Later on, it was ruled by the Dukes of Silesia from the Duchy of Opole, and in the second half of the 13th century, was in Duchy of Greater Poland. In 1281, the castellany was moved from Ruda to Wieluà Â, and since then, it has been called the Land of Wieluà Â.
The settlement of Wieluà  was founded probably in c. 1220 by Duke Wà Âadysà Âaw Odonic. It was first mentioned in documents in 1282, and probably in the same year it received a town charter. In the mid-14th century King Casimir III the Great built a castle here, which was part of defensive system protecting the border between the Kingdom of Poland and Czech-ruled Silesia. The castle itself was remodeled several times, due to frequent fires and wars. Currently, there is a Classicistic palace in its location.
In both Kingdom of Poland and the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth, the Land of Wieluà  as part of Sieradz Voivodeship had its own civil servants, offices and courts, and the Castellan of Wieluà  was one of Senators of Poland. The land had four starostas â at Wieluà  itself, Ostrzeszów, Bolesà Âawiec and Grabów nad ProsnÃÂ. Two deputies to the Sejm were elected at Wieluà Â's Sejmiks, furthermore, the Voivode of Sieradz (of the Sieradz Voivodeship) was obliged to appoint his deputy from Wieluà Â.
In 1370, following the last will of Casimir the Great, King Louis I of Hungary handed the Land of Wieluà  to Duke of Opole, Wà Âadysà Âaw Opolczyk. In the same period, the Archbishop of Gniezno, Jarosà Âaw of Bogoria and Skotnik built a manor house in Wieluà Â. The town remained in the hands of Wà Âadysà Âaw Opolczyk until 1395, when it was returned to Poland. Wieluà  quickly developed, in the 1390s a Paulists church together with an abbey were built, and in 1413, Archbishop Mikoà Âaj Tràba moved the ancient collegiate church from Ruda to Wieluà Â. In the 1440s and 1450s, Wieluà  was frequently destroyed in raids of Silesian dukes. By that time, it had already been an important center of commerce and government.
The Land of Wieluà  had its own coat of arms, established between 1410 and 1434. It can be found on the tomb of King Wà Âadysà Âaw II Jagieà Âà Âo, together with coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania, Ruthenia, Greater Poland, and the Dobrzyà  Land. Historically, the Land of Wieluà  covers current counties of Wieluà Â, Ostrzeszów, KÃÂpno and Wieruszów, as well as some locations in the counties of Olesno and PajÃÂczno.
Wieluà  prospered in the 16th century, the so-called Polish Golden Age. It was a royal city of Poland and capital of the Land of Wieluà Â, part of the Sieradz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. At the beginning of the 17th century, the mother of future Grand Crown Hetman Stanisà Âaw Koniecpolski, one of the greatest commanders in Polish history, founded a Renaissance monastery of the Bernardine nuns in Wieluà Â, now housing a museum dedicated to the town's history. The town was devastated in the War of the Polish Succession, as the Battle of Byczyna took place near Wieluà Â. Good times ended in the catastrophic Swedish invasion (1655âÂÂ1660), when the town was ransacked and burned both by the Swedish invaders, and by Polish troops, who took revenge on its Protestant residents for their support of the Lutheran Swedes. Finally, in 1707âÂÂ1711, Wieluà Â's population was decimated by a plague (see miasma theory), which killed 2,000. Following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Wieluà  briefly belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia, in 1807 it became part of the newly formed, but short-lived, Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland, where it remained until World War I. The town burned twice (1791, 1858), and after the second fire, it was rebuilt in a new shape. After World War I, Poland regained independence in 1918, and in the interbellum Wieluà  was a county seat in the à Âódà º Voivodeship.
On 1 September 1939, the city was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the first action of World War II (apart from the Jabà Âonków Incident on 25/26 August). In the Bombing of Wieluà Â, German planes destroyed most of the town centre, including a clearly marked hospital, a synagogue, and the historic Gothic church, and killed at least 127 civilians. According to Norman Davies, the bombings destroyed three quarters of the town. Thousands were injured and many fled. No Polish military units were present in Wieluà  at that time (31 August â 1 September 1939).
By decision from 5 September 1939, one of the first three German special courts in occupied Poland was established in the town; it was eventually moved to Piotrków Trybunalski on September 22, 1939. On 6âÂÂ8 September 1939 the Einsatzgruppe II entered the town, and mass searches of Polish offices and organizations were carried out. Already on September 8, 1939, inhabitants of Wieluà  were among the 30 Poles massacred by German troops in Chechà Âo near Pabianice. Wieluà  was annexed to Nazi Germany on 8 October 1939 and placed under the administration of Reichsgau Wartheland. The Germans instigated a reign of terror against the Jewish population of Wieluà Â, which had lived there since the 1500s and amounted to around 4,000 people at the beginning of the war. Jews were kidnapped for forced labour with little pay.
Around 40 Poles from Wieluà  were murdered by the Soviets in the large Katyn massacre in April to May 1940. In June 1940, the Germans expelled around 200 Poles, owners of villas, which were handed over to new German officials or converted to German offices. During the German occupation, a transit camp was operated in the town for Poles expelled from the region, who were then either deported to the so-called General Government in the eastern part of German-occupied Poland or to forced labour in Germany and German-occupied France or sent as slave laborers to new German colonists in the town's vicinity. The Germans also established and operated a Nazi prison in the town, and looted the local historical numismatic collection, which they sent to a newly established German museum in occupied Poznaà Â. In 1941, Jews were forced into a ghetto. Many were then sent away to labour camps. In January 1942, the German publicly hanged ten Jews. Later that year, the 2,000 Jews still remaining in the city and others brought to Wieluà  were rounded up and confined for several days in a church building without food or water. Several died there of exhaustion, others were murdered and 900 were then selected and sent to the à Âódà º ghetto. The rest were sent to the Cheà Âmno extermination camp, where they were immediately gassed. Seventy to one hundred Wieluà  Jews survived the war, and many returned to the city although most left soon afterward.
The city was liberated on 19 January 1945 by troops of the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front in the course of the SandomierzâÂÂSilesian Offensive.
Wieluà  has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) using the isotherm or a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb) using the isotherm.
Cultural heritage sights of Wieluà  include the Town Hall, medieval defensive town walls, the former Piarist college, and several historic churches such as the Gothic Corpus Christi Collegiate church, the Gothic-Baroque Church of St. Nicholas, and Baroque churches of Saint Joseph and of the Annunciation of Mary.
The Museum of Wieluà  Land ('), located in the Renaissance Bernardine monastery, is the town's primary museum, dedicated to the history of Wieluà  and its surroundings. It contains archaeological, ethnographic, historical and art collections. Displayed artifacts include jewelry and weaponry from the Bronze Age and Middle Ages, weapons and memorabilia from the 19th-century Polish national liberation uprisings, religious paintings and traditional folk sculptures, and Biblia Brzeska, one of the oldest Polish translations of the Bible. There is also an exhibition dedicated to the German bombing of Wieluà  at the start World War II.
There are monuments to notable people such as Witold Pilecki and Pope John Paul II in Wieluà Â. There are also several World War II memorials, dedicated to the victims of the German bombing of 1939, to local Poles murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre, to local Jews murdered by the German occupiers in the Holocaust, etc.
The majority of the population are Catholic.
Wieluà  is an important transportation hub. Main roads stemming from Wieluà  include connection with Warsaw (to the north-east) and Wrocà Âaw (to the west), via the National Road . There are also two national roads: number to CzÃÂstochowa and to Opole and à Âódà º. Furthermore, there are two voivodeship (local) roads starting from Wieluà Â: road number 481 (going north-east) to à Âask and road number 486 (going south-east) to Radomsko. The biggest communication problem in Wieluà  is huge traffic (including transit) in the center of the town, due to lack of bypasses. A bypass of National Road was fully completed and opened in March 2017, later additional bypasses will be built. The first section of the eastern bypass has already been finished. In the area of Wieluà  there is also expressway S8 (it is located near the northern outskirts of the town). Additionally, there is a plan to build the -long Kalisz-Wieluà  Road in the future.
Rail connection links Wieluà  to Poznaà  and Katowice. The line was built in the 1920s, as the junction of Kluczbork remained within borders of Weimar Germany and direct rail communication between Polish part of Upper Silesia and Poznaà  was impossible. Therefore, it was crucial to construct a brand new line, which runs from Herby Nowe to KÃÂpno. The line was one of the most important connections in the Second Polish Republic, but after World War II, when Kluczbork was annexed by Poland, it lost its importance.
Also, until the end of the 1980s, there was a narrow gauge railroad, which connected Wieluà  with nearby Praszka. Currently, the town has two operating railway stations: Wieluà  Dàbrowa and Wieluà  Miasto. Wieluà  is directly connected by rail with such cities as Tarnowskie Góry, Katowice, Poznaà Â, Szczecin and KÃÂpno. Once there was also a direct connection to CzÃÂstochowa and Lubliniec. Another means of communication with the surroundings and the entire country are buses. There is a modern (though built in 1976) bus station, which also handles international communication.
Source:
Wieluà Â, like most cities, has a municipal communications. In Wieluà  runs 8 lines operated by a local transport company â PKS Wieluà Â. Public transportation has existed since 1988.
The town has a sports club WKS Wieluà Â, established in 1957 after a merger of two earlier clubs. In the past, WKS Wieluà  had several departments, such as track and field, basketball, table tennis, handball and association football. Currently, the only remaining department is football. Another notable club is , volleyball team, which competes in the lower leagues, but in the past played in the PlusLiga, Poland's top division, most recently in the 2010âÂÂ11 season.
Wieluà  is twinned with: