Bliżyn | |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Total Type: | |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
Subdivision Name1: | Świętokrzyskie |
Subdivision Type2: | County |
Subdivision Name2: | Skarżysko |
Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
Subdivision Name3: | Bliżyn |
Coordinates: | 51.1089°N 20.7567°W |
Pushpin Map: | Poland |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Population Total: | 2000 |
Bliżyn is a village in Skarżysko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Bliżyn. It lies on the Kamienna river and Bliżyn Reservoir, approximately 12km (07miles) west of Skarżysko-Kamienna and 270NaN0 north of the regional capital Kielce.[1]
The village was first mentioned in 1410, when King Władysław II Jagiełło spent a night there on his way to the battle of Grunwald. In 19th century Stanisław Staszic founded several minor manufactories and factories there, as part of his plan of creation of the "Old Polish Industrial Area". During World War II the forests around Bliżyn were a mass murder site of Polish intelligentsia during the so-called AB Action. After the war the forests were made into the Suchedniów-Oblęgorek Landscape Park. There are also two forest nature reserves: Świnia Góra and Dalejów located south of Bliżyn in Puszcza Świetokrzyska (Holy Cross Forest). There are also ruins of the 19th-century factories, a notable church and numerous remnants of dinosaurs in the rocky areas around the village.