| Brody | |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
| Subdivision Name1: | Lubusz |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Żary |
| Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
| Subdivision Name3: | Brody |
| Coordinates: | 51.7903°N 14.7739°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Poland |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Population As Of: | 2017[1] |
| Population Total: | 969 |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 68-343 |
| Area Code: | +48 68 |
| Registration Plate: | FZA |
| Blank Name Sec2: | Voivodeship road |
Brody is a town in Żary County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, close to the German border. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Brody.[2] It lies approximately 31km (19miles) north-west of Żary and 530NaN0 west of Zielona Góra.
The village was mentioned in 1398.[3] It was granted town rights in 1454.[3] With the historic Lower Lusatia region it passed from the Kingdom of Bohemia to the Electorate of Saxony by the 1635 Peace of Prague. From 1697 it was also under the suzerainty of Polish kings in personal union. From 1740 it was a possession of the powerful Polish–Saxon statesman Heinrich von Brühl, who had an extended Baroque palace built, where he received King Augustus III of Poland and kept his famous Meissen porcelain Swan Service tableware of more than 2,000 pieces designed by Johann Joachim Kaendler. There was also a library and an archaeological collection.[4] One of the main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town.[5] In 1748, the Zasiecka Gate was built on the occasion of the arrival of King Augustus III.[6]
The palace was devastated by Prussian troops by the explicit command of King Frederick II of Hohenzollern during the Seven Years' War. After the Prussian occupation it passed to Polish diplomat, General and poet Alois Friedrich von Brühl, who spent his last years there. In 1790 the small town gained prominence throughout Europe, after Brühl staged Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the palace park.[6]
By the Final Act of the Vienna Congress in 1815 Brody (then as Pförten) with Lower Lusatia fell to Prussia and from 1871 to 1945 the area was part of Germany. The Brühl Palace, again ravaged by the Red Army, has in parts been rebuilt. After the war it became part of Poland (see Territorial changes of Poland after World War II). In 1949, the post-war library was founded.[4]
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland.
Brody is twinned with:
Lubsko, Poland