| Ciężkowice | |
| Pushpin Map: | Poland |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
| Subdivision Name1: | Lesser Poland |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Tarnów |
| Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
| Subdivision Name3: | Ciężkowice |
| Established Title: | First mentioned |
| Established Date: | 1125 |
| Established Title3: | City rights |
| Established Date3: | 1348-1934, 1998 |
| Leader Party: | PSL |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Jowita Jurkiewicz-Drąg |
| Area Total Km2: | 9.99 |
| Population As Of: | 31 December 2021[1] |
| Population Total: | 2444 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Coordinates: | 49.8°N 78°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 33-190 |
| Area Code: | +48 14 |
| Blank Name: | Car plates |
| Blank Info: | KTA |
| Website: | http://www.ciezkowice.pl |
Ciężkowice is a town in Tarnów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,444 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies in the Ciężkowice Foothills, on the Biała river. The town is located on regional road nr. 977, it also has a rail station (Bogoniowice - Ciężkowice), on a line which goes from Tarnów to the Slovak border crossing at Leluchów. Ciężkowice is home to a sports club Ciężkowianka, founded in 1948.
The history of Ciężkowice dates back to the year 1125, when in a document of Papal legate Gilles de Paris, the village is mentioned as a property of the Tyniec Benedictine Abbey. On February 29, 1348, King Kazimierz Wielki granted it Magdeburg rights town charter. At that time, Ciężkowice was partly inhabited by the German settlers. In the late Middle Ages, Ciężkowice was located on a merchant route from the Kingdom of Hungary to Kraków. Weekly fairs took place here every Wednesday, where local dairy products, clothes, salt, horses and Hungarian wines were sold. In 1358, St. Andrew parish church was built.
After the Swedish invasion of Poland, Ciężkowice lost its importance. Until 1772 (see Partitions of Poland), the town belonged to Sandomierz Voivodeship. From 1772 to late 1918, it was part of Austrian Galicia. The decline of Ciężkowice was so severe that in 1934, the government of the Second Polish Republic stripped it of the town charter, and Ciężkowice remained a village until 1998.
Stone Town Nature Reserve (known in Polish as Rezerwat przyrody Skamieniałe Miasto) is located on the right bank of the Biała river, near Ciężkowice. It has the area of 15 hectares, and it was created in 1931, with official recognition in 1974. The reserve spreads from the Biała valley to the peak of the Skała hill (367 meters above sea level). Among oak and pine forest there are several large sandstone rocks, shaped during the process of erosion. Altogether, they make the so-called stone town, and names of individual rocks are based on their appearance (“Pyramid”, “Witch”, “Town Hall”, “Club”). There also is a small waterfall nearby.