Radom (Poland)

Radom [radm] (

listen)

is a city in central Poland with 219,703 inhabitants (2013). It is located 100

kilometres (62 miles) south of Poland's capital, Warsaw, on the Mleczna River, in (as of 1999)
the Masovian Voivodeship, having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship (19751998).
Despite being part of the Masovian Voivodeship, the city historically belongs toLesser Poland. For
centuries, Radom was part of the Sandomierz Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland and the
later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was an important center of administration, having served
as seat of the Crown Council. The Pact of Vilnius and Radom was signed there in 1401, and
the Nihil novi and aski's Statute were adopted by the Sejm at Radom's Royal Castle in 1505. In
1976, it was a center of anti Communist street protests.
The city is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and best-attended air show in Poland,
held during the last weekend of August. "Radom" is also the popular unofficial name for a
semiautomatic 9 mm Para pistol of Polish design (the Model 35/ViS-35) which was produced from
1935 to 1944 at the national arsenal located in the city. The ucznik Arms Factory(still located in
Radom) continues to produce modern military firearms.
International Jazz Festival and International Gombrowicz Theater Festival are held in Radom.
Contents
[hide]

1 History
o

1.1 Poland's Golden Age

1.2 Modern era

1.3 Current events

2 Climate

3 Tourist attractions

4 Culture
o

4.1 Philharmonic

4.2 Cinemas

4.3 Theatre

4.4 Museums and art galleries

5 Transport

6 Education

7 Other

8 Sports

9 Politics

10 International relations
o

10.1 Twin towns Sister cities

11 Notable people

12 See also

13 References

History[edit]
Further information: Timeline of Radom
Radom's original settlement dates back to the 8th9th century. It was an early mediaeval town in the
valley of the Mleczna River (on the approximate site of present-day Old Town). In the second half of
the 10th century, it became a gord, calledPiotrwka, which was protected by a rampart and a moat.
Due to convenient location on the edge of a large wilderness, and its proximity to the border
of Lesser Poland and Mazovia, Radom quickly emerged as an important administrative center of the
early Kingdom of Poland. Piotrwka was probably named after St. Peter church, which in 1222 was
placed under the authority of a Benedictine Abbey in nearby Sieciechw. The church no longer
exists; the oldest still-extant church in Radom is St. Wacaw, founded in the 13th century by Prince
of Sandomierz Leszek I the White. The first documented mention of Radom comes from the year
1155, in a bull of Pope Adrian IV (villam iuxta Rado, que vocatur Zlauno, or a village near Radom,
called Sawno). By 1233, Radom was the seat of a castellan. The name of the city comes from the
ancient Slavic given nameRadomir, and Radom means a gord, which belongs to Radomir.
In the second half of the 13th century, Radom was granted a roda lska town charter by
Prince Bolesaw V the Chaste, although no documents exist to confirm the exact date of this event.
The town prospered in the 14th century, when in 1350 King Kazimierz Wielki established the socalled New Town, with a royal castle, a defensive wall, and a town hall. There was also a market
square and a grid plan of the streets, patterned after Gothic German towns. The area of New
Town was 9hectares, and the length of the defensive wall was 1,100 meters. Radom had three
gates, named after main merchant roads:Ia Gate, Piotrkw Trybunalski Gate, and Lublin Gate. The

defensive wall was further protected by 25 fortified towers. New Town had the Church of John the
Baptist, and the Royal Castle was built between the church and the moat.
In 1364, Radoms obsolete roda lska rights were replaced with more modern Magdeburg rights,
and residents gained several privileges as a result. At that time, Radom was located along the socalled Oxen Trail, from Ruthenian lands to Silesia. In 1376, the city became the seat of a starosta,
and entered the period of its greatest prosperity.

Poland's Golden Age[edit]

King Wadysaw Jagieo granted several privileges to the city. Jagieo himself frequently travelled
from Krakw to Vilnius, and liked to stay at Radom Castle en route. On March 18, 1401, the Pact of
Vilnius and Radom was signed, which strengthened the PolishLithuanian union. Immediately after
the Pact, preparations for the PolishLithuanianTeutonic War began. King Casimir IV
Jagiellon frequently visited Radom, along with his wife, Elizabeth of Austria. Here, the King would
host foreign envoys, from such countries as the Crimean Khanate, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and
the Duchy of Bavaria. On November 18, 1489, Johann von Tiefen, the Grand Master of the Teutonic
Knights, paid homage to King Jagiellon at Radom Castle. Mikoaj Radomski, one of the earliest
Polish composers, comes from Radom. In 1468, the complex of a Bernardine church and monastery
was founded here by King Jagiellon, with support of the local starosta, Dominik z Kazanowa. The
complex was originally made of wood (until 1507).

Bernadine church and monastery

In 1481, Radom became the residence of Prince Kazimierz, the son of King Jagiellon, who ruled
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The young prince died of tuberculosis, and later became patron saint
of both the city of Radom (since 1983), and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Radom (since 1992).
During the reign of Alexander Jagiellon, the Nihil novi act was adopted by the Polish Sejm in a
meeting at Radom Castle. Furthermore, at the same meeting, the first codification of law published
in the Kingdom of Poland was accepted. Radom remained one of the most important urban centers
of Sandomierz Voivodeship, the seat of a county, and of the Treasure Tribunal (1613-1764), which
controlled taxation. Several kings visited the city, including Stephen Bathory and his wife Anna

Jagiellon,Sigismund III Vasa, and August III Sas. In 1623 many residents died in an epidemic, and in
1628, half of Radom burned in a fire.
The period of prosperity ended during the Swedish invasion of Poland. The Swedish army captured
the city without a fight in November 1655. At first the invaders behaved correctly, as King Charles X
Gustav still sought alliances within the Polish-Lithuanian nobility; the situation changed, however, in
early 1656, when anti-Swedish uprisings broke out in southern Lesser Poland and quickly spread
across the country. Radom was looted and almost completely destroyed in August 1656. Its
population shrank from some 2,000 before the war, to 395 in 1660, with only 37 houses still
standing. Swedish soldiers burned the royal castle and the monastery. With the Polish population in
decline, the number of Jewish settlers grew by the early 18th century. In 1682 the
first Piarists arrived, and in 1737-1756, opened a college.

Radom City hall, early 19th century

Radom remained within the Sandomierz Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until
the third partition of Poland (1795). For a few years (1795 - 1809) it was part of the Austrian province
of West Galicia, and then (1809 - 1815) part of the Duchy of Warsaw, which named it capital of
the Radom Department. From 1815 the city belonged to Russian-controlled Congress Poland,
remaining a regional administrative center. In 1816 - 1837 it was the capital of the Sandomierz
Voivodeship, whose capital, despite the name, was at Radom. In 1837 - 1844 it was the capital of
the Sandomierz Governorate, and from 1844 until the oubreak of World War I, the capital of
the Radom Governorate. The city was an important center of the November Uprising. Its obsolete
and ruined fortifications were destroyed upon order of Mayor Jzef Krlikowski. In the early days of
the January Uprising, Marian Langiewiczvisited Radom, preparing the rebellion. In 1867 a sewage
system was built. Streets were gradually paved, and in 1885, a rail line fromDbrowa
Grnicza to Dblin was completed, via Radom. In the early 20th century a power plant was built. The
city was captured by theAustro-Hungarian Army in July 1915. An Austrian garrison remained until
November 1918.

Modern era[edit]

City map from 1919

In the Second Polish Republic Radom became part of Kielce Voivodeship. In 1932 the City County
of Radom was created, and the following year, its rail connection with Warsaw was completed. In the
late 1930s, due to the government project known as the Central Industrial Area, several new
factories were built; by 1938, the population had grown to 80,000. The city was also a military
garrison, serving as headquarters of the 72nd Infantry Regiment. On September 8, 1939,
during World War II, Radom was captured by theWehrmacht. The German occupiers carried out
several executions of civilians, and formed the Radom Ghetto, with a population of 34,000 Jews,
most of whom perished at the Treblinka death camp. Radom was also a center of Polish resistance,
with numerousHome Army units operating in the area. On September 9, 1945, the city was briefly
seized by the Cursed soldiers, who broke into a local prison, releasing a number of Home Army
soldiers.
Up to the Second World War, like many other cities in interwar Poland, Radom had a large Jewish
population. According to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 28,700, Jews
constituted 11,200 (~39% percent).[1][2]

Current events[edit]
In 2007, two pilots died in a fatal accident at the Air Show resulting in the cancellation of the rest of
the event. On the 30th of August 2009, also during the air show, another two pilots who
represented Belarus were killed when their plane crashed.
Radom was one of the main centres of the strike action taken by Polish health care workers in 2007.

Climate[edit]
Radom has a humid continental climate (Kppen: Dfb).
[hide]Climate data for Radom

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Daily mean C (F)

Average precipitation mm (inches)

4.7

3.3

2.1

8.4

13.2

16.4

18.0

17.4

(23.5)

(26.1)

(35.8)

(47.1)

(55.8)

(61.5)

(64.4)

(63.3)

26

25

28

37

59

76

79

66

(1.02)

(0.98)

(1.1)

(1.46)

(2.32)

(2.99)

(3.11)

(2.6)

Source: Climate-Data.org[3]