... in the past
The Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, left destruction in the city's structure and buildings, population losses, and depopulation. The city's former buildings had to be gradually restored; the rebuilding of crafts, destroyed churches, and the ruined town hall began.
In 1655, the rebuilding of the burned Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas's Church began.
In 1659–1660, renovations of the town hall and restoration of the main Council meeting hall began, with new stone surrounds being made. Between 1665 and 1685, the town-hall rooms and wine cellars were lined with sandstone from the quarries in Wartowice. An important event was the return in 1660 of the Dominican order, expelled during the Thirty Years' War. The city felt obliged to compensate them for the losses they had suffered. The Dominicans would play an important role in the city's cultural development.
Between 1670 and 1676, they built a church and part of the monastery buildings at today's Teatralna and Armii Krajowej streets. The Municipal Council decided to build a brickworks in the Upper Suburb and, in the Lower Suburb, four pottery workshops, a sawmill, a wood-grinding mill, a fulling mill, and two mills—a paper mill and a sand mill.
In 1671, a fire station, arsenal, and grain granary were built. Between 1685 and 1689, the main nave of the church was roofed.
In 1689, Giulio Simonetti, a renowned Italian sculptor and painter, settled in the city and remained connected with it permanently until the end of his life. He was a councillor, and the city owes him the decoration of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The wealth of the townspeople and the Council grew. In 1693, with the Council's consent, the mayor funded an altar in St. Catherine's Chapel. Apparently, the residents' need for an aesthetic way to drink coffee was also growing, since it was recorded that a brown coffee pot was produced in 1698. It is worth knowing that this beverage was only just entering Europe and wider consumption. The Municipal Council's actions evidently did not appeal to everyone.
In 1700, unknown perpetrators hung a libel clearly insulting the Municipal Council on the pillory near the town hall. In 1704, the city council commissioned experts from Wrocław to inspect and maintain the sewage system.
Apparently, issues concerning the cleanliness of water and sewage were important to the City Council. This is confirmed by the Council's decision of 1970, which expressly prohibited manure from being stored in front of houses for more than one day. Previously, it could be stored for three days.
A serious financial burden for the city in 1707 was the ten-day stay of King Stanisław Leszczyński and Prince Lubomirski, together with Opole and Swedish troops.
Readers should be given an explanation: these were the times of the Great Northern War, and the choice of King Stanisław Leszczyński, with Swedish support, was not met with the approval of Polish society, as Augustus II the Strong was still king.
A major event in the city's history was the opening in Bolesławiec in 1736 of the first printing house, established by Henryk Muller, which supplied printed materials to the magistrate, but not only to it.
The city's fires, which I have already written about (especially the serious one in 1739), forced the City Council to issue an order that chimneys in the city be built only of brick or stone. Apparently, the city's finances improved, since in 1748 the city council built a fountain in the market square. The ruins of the castle burned down at today's Plac Zamkowy did not enhance the appearance of this part of the city. The Council decided to transfer the site, together with the remaining building materials, to the Protestant congregation for the construction of an evangelical church.
to be continued.