Chojna
Chojna is a small town with a population of 6,300, to the south west of Szczecin, in the province of Zachodniopomorskie (West Pomerania).
Chojna lies at the confluence or the rivers Rurzyca and Wrzosnica on the trade route from Szczecin to Silesia. The settlement was founded in the 12th c. A century later it achieved town status. From 1270 till 1660 it became part of Neumark, under the rule of Brandenburg. Much of the town was destroyed during the thirty years’ war (1618-48), and suffered considerable damage again in 1945. Despite this Chojna still boasts a fine complex of Pomeranian medieval architecture.
Most of the old town is encircled by 13th century defensive walls. Two 15th c. gates have been preserved: Barnkowska and Swiecka. In the centre of the town is the massive Gothic Parish Church of the Virgin Mary, designed by H. Brunsberg in 1389. The church was damaged during the fierce battles for Königsberg in 1945 and is only now being renovated. Opposite the church in Chojna is the Gothic brick-built town hall built between the 13th and 15th c. Elsewhere in the town there is a 13th century Gothic Church and Augustinian monastery, and a giant 33 m. high London Plane tree, one of the biggest in Poland.
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