ZDUNY

Zduny is a town situated on the Borownica River, at the border of Wielkopolska and Lower-Silesia Provinces, ca. 7 km south-west of Krotoszyn. The recent research has proved that the town’s name ought to be referred to the personal name Zdunek; the town’s name originally read ‘Sdunki’ or ‘Zdunków’.

History

Zduny received the city rights from Duke Bolesław the Pious in 1267. The present name of Zduny has been in use since 15th century, which then read ‘Sduny’. The locals initially dealt with commerce and crafts.
The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) events caused inflows into the area of Protestant refugees from Silesia – particularly, weavers. They were willingly received by the then-owner of the town, Piotr Sieniuta. It was for them that the other town was incorporated, which, for differentiation’s sake, was named ‘Zduny Niemieckie’ – i.e. the ‘German Zduny’. It was to soon turn out that more and more settlers would be attracted to this town whose popularity was growing owing to its religious tolerance. 1646 saw incorporation of yet another town, called Sieniutowo. 1772 saw a consolidation of the three organisms thitherto existing next to one another. Toward the late 18th century, Zduny had become a significant cloth-manufacture hub.
Resultant from 2nd Partition of Poland of 1793, Zduny were to remain part of Prussia. The town regained freedom for a short period in 1807 to 1815, then administratively under the Duchy-of-Warsaw rule. The Vienna Congress of 1815 caused its re-absorption by the Prussian partitioner.
Some eighty Zduny dwellers took part in the Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919, with fierce and exhaustive fighting fought for the town itself – including in the field of diplomacy. The reason was proximity of the frontier and the Germans being convicted about their right to the land in question.
February 21, 1919 marked the final ceasefire. It is worth adding that during the two decades between the two World Wars, the borderline was set 1 km off the town’s centre. A meaningful move of the Germans is seemingly their renaming in 1943 of the town into Treustadt – a ‘faithful town’. At present, Zduny is a rather small industrial and services hub.

Worth Seeing

An important historical monument is the baroque church of St. John the Baptist of 1719. Next to the temple, you can see an Our Lady’s grotto of 1928.
North-east of the church is a mediaeval cone-shaped settlement whose diameter is 43 m and height up to 1.5 m.
The centre of the marketplace in the former Zduny-Niemieckie is occupied by a town hall from c.1684, a charming building with a baroque clock turret and a five-column arcade. At the market, eighteenth-century houses can be watched. In Łacnowo St., quite a number of 18th-century wattle-and-daub residential houses remain extant, and the street is recognised as being of historical interest, in its entirety.
Sienkiewicza St. is the location of a former Evangelical church from the latter half of 18th century. Then on goes a Museum Chamber affiliated to the local cultural centre, the home to the former being a renovated house from the turn of 18th century.
In the Commune area, you can visit the nature reserves called Mszar Baszków and Mszar Bogdaniec. Poland’s only tilery where stove tiles are manufactured using traditional methods is located in Zduny.