Starachowice

Starachowice is a city in southeastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), with 49,513 inhabitants (31.12.2017). It is the capital of Starachowice County in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is situated upon the River Kamienna, a tributary of the Vistula River, among hills and forests.

==History== thumb|left|upright|Holy Trinity church which dates back to the 17th century In the location of present-day Starachowice, a forge existed, which in the 16th century belonged to the Starzechowski family (most probably, the name of the town comes from this family). The oldest known mention of Starachowice comes from 1547. The settlement, which was built around the forge, belonged until 1817 to the Cistercians from Wąchock Abbey, located nearby. It was the monks who in 1789 initiated construction of a blast furnace (see also Old-Polish Industrial Region). In the meantime Polish bishop Bogusław Radoszewski founded the town of Wierzbnik in 1624, which was granted town rights by Polish King Sigismund III Vasa. Three annual fairs and three weekly markets were organized in the town, however it developed slowly, while Starachowice developed faster. Both settlements were administratively located in the Sandomierz Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown.