Happy TravellerWelcome to Jaworzno, a city situated in southern Poland, near Katowice. Jaworzno is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Przemsza river, a tributary of the Vistula. It belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland and has a population of 89,350 people as of 2021. Jaworzno is one of the cities of the 2.7 million conurbation – Katowice urban area and within a greater Silesian metropolitan area populated by about 5,294,000 people.
Jaworzno’s location is convenient for travelers as it is situated a short distance from Junction 41 on the A4 Highway. The city is in the east of the largest metropolis in Poland and one of the largest in the European Union, numbering about 3.5 million. This urban expansion bloomed in the 19th century thanks to the rapid development of mining and metallurgical industries.
Jaworzno has a continental humid climate. The annual average temperature is 8 °C (46 °F) with the most rainy month being July. The area’s characteristic weak winds blow at about 2 m/s from the west (Moravian Gate).
Transportation to and from Jaworzno is easily accessible with a number of road routes such as the A4 motorway (part of European route E40), the S1 expressway which is connected with the A1 motorway (both forming part of the European route E75), the National road No. 79 (Warsaw–Bytom), and Voivodeship road 903. Public transport is provided by PKM Jaworzno, a public transport company that was one of the first in Poland to introduce the magnetic card called Jaworznicka Karta miejska (Jaworzno Urban Card) instead of paper tickets. Currently, PKM Jaworzno is one of the most modern public transport companies in Poland.
Jaworzno has a rich history dating back to the Middle Ages. The name of the city comes from the jawor trees (sycamore maple), which in the past were abundant in this area. The area of Jaworzno was originally under the rule of the bishops of Kraków. In the 18th century, deposits of silver, lead, iron and zinc were found here. Several new factories were established here in the late 19th and early 20th century, and as a result, on September 21, 1901, Emperor Franz Joseph I granted a town charter to Jaworzno. After World War II, the town was restored to Poland and developed as an important center of industry. Its population quickly grew, when thousands of migrants came here in search of work at coal mines, power plants, and other factories. Jaworzno has environmentally valuable areas which as a group present a diversity of landscapes and vegetation as well as a richness of flora and fauna.
Jaworzno is a city that offers a rich variety of educational and cultural activities, including sporting facilities at the Europe-wide level. The city major arena, the Hala Widowiskowo-Sportowa, can seat 2,500 spectators. The Sosina water sports centre is the venue for the annual Polish water-skiing championships. There are also several notable people from Jaworzno, such as Polish-Jewish sculptor Shelomo Selinger, athlete Andrzej Stalmach, singer and songwriter Basia Trzetrzelewska, and professional billiards player Bogdan Wołkowski.
Jaworzno is twinned with several cities, including Hereford, England, United Kingdom, Karviná, Czech Republic, Szigethalom, Hungary, and Yiwu, China.
