Kazimierza Wielka

Kazimierza Wielka ( listen) is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about 45 km northeast of Kraków. It is the administrative seat of Kazimierza County (powiat kazimierski). With the population of is 5,848 (2005), it is the smallest seat of a county in Poland. Kazimierza Wielka is located in Lesser Poland Upland, and historically belongs to the province of Lesser Poland. For most of its history, it was a village, and did not receive its town charter until 1959. The area of Kazimierza Wielka is 5,33 sq. km.

First mention of the village comes from 1320, during the reign of Wladyslaw Lokietek. At that time, its name was spelled Cazimiria, and it belonged to the Kazimierski family. In the Kingdom of Poland, Kazimierza Wielka was located on the border of two Lesser Poland’s voivodeships - Sandomierz Voivodeship and Krakow Voivodeship. The village itself belonged to Proszowice County of Krakow Voivodeship, while neighboring Kazimierza Mala belonged to Wislica County of Sandomierz Voivodeship. In the 1560s, Kazimierza Wielka was one of centers of the Polish Brethren.

After the Partitions of Poland, the village belonged to Austria, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland. In 1845, a sugar refinery, one of the first in the province was opened here. In 1919, Kazimierza Wielka returned to Poland, and belonged to Kielce Voivodeship. On September 5, 1939, a skirmish between the advancing Wehrmacht and Polish 55th Infantry Division took place took place in the village, in which 60 Polish soldiers died. In 1956 Kazimierza Wielka County was created, and three years later, the village received its town rights. Its most important historic building is a local parish church (1633).