| Łeba | |
| Pushpin Map: | Poland |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Voivodeship |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pomeranian |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Lębork |
| Subdivision Type3: | Gmina |
| Subdivision Name3: | Łeba (urban gmina) |
| Established Title: | First mentioned |
| Established Date: | 1282 |
| Established Title2: | Town rights |
| Established Date2: | 1357 |
| Area Total Km2: | 14.8 |
| Population As Of: | 31 December 2019 |
| Population Total: | 3601[1] |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Coordinates: | 54.7833°N 50°W |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 84–360 |
| Registration Plate: | GLE |
Łeba (pronounced:, csb|Łeba; de|Leba) is a seaside town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland. It is located in the region of Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomerelia), near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the river Łeba on the Slovincian Coast of the Baltic Sea.
The Pomerelian settlement of Łeba was first mentioned in a 1282 document of Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania.[2] At that time the village was located about two kilometers (2abbr=off1abbr=off) west from the present mouth of the Łeba River. The church of St. Nicholas was mentioned in 1296.[2] Łeba was part of fragmented Poland until 1309, when it was annexed by the Teutonic Order after their takeover of Gdańsk.[2] Łeba received municipal rights by the State of the Teutonic Order in 1357. Located at the Łebsko Lake at the Baltic Sea, it developed to a fishing port and a wood marketplace.
In 1440, the town joined the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule,[3] and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454.[4] With Lauenburg (Lębork) Land it became a Polish fief during the Thirteen Years' War in 1455, held by the Dukes of Pomerania.
Old Łeba was threatened for many centuries by floods and expanding sand dunes and therefore was rebuilt in a safer location after 1558. The town was reintegrated with the Polish Crown after the death of the last Pomeranian duke Bogislaw XIV as part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, until King John II Casimir Vasa enfeoffed Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia with Lauenburg Land by the 1657 Treaty of Bydgoszcz.
With the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Łeba was incorporated into Prussia. Soon after a large port was built on instruction of the Prussian king, whereby a 34abbr=off0abbr=off broad channel between the Leba lake and the Baltic Sea was dug, which however did not weather the storms on the coast. Due to its picturesque setting, the Leba seaside after World War I became a popular resort for German bohémiens. The painter Max Pechstein and other expressionists frequented the place.
In the proximity of Leba there is a large former testing area for long-range rocket weapons operated by the Rheinmetall company. On the Leba spit the German long-range rocket Rheinbote was tested between 1941 and 1945. Also the V-1 flying bomb was tested here from 1943 to 1945. Between 1963 and 1973 33 Meteor sounding rockets were launched from Łeba.[5]
In March 1945, shortly before the end of World War II, the region was occupied by the Red Army. Following the Potsdam Conference, after the end of the war the town became again part of Poland.
There is an abundance of architectural and natural attractions near Łeba, above all the Słowiński National Park with its moving sand dunes, about 8km (05miles) west of the city. Further objects of interest include:
Łeba has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb).[8] [9]
Since the medieval Christianization of the region, the local population was Catholic. After the Reformation, the inhabitants of the town were predominantly Protestants and the area was subjected to Germanisation. Since the end of World War II the population is predominantly composed of Polish Roman Catholics.
| Year | Inhabitants | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1782 | 503 | no Jews.[10] |
| 1784 | 497[11] | |
| 1794 | 526 | no Jews. |
| 1812 | 707 | incl. four Catholics and 16 Jews. |
| 1816 | 639 | incl. two Catholics and 12 Jews. |
| 1831 | 806 | incl. seven Catholics and two Jews. |
| 1843 | 948 | incl. four Catholics and two Jews. |
| 1852 | 1,093 | incl. seven Catholics and eight Jews.[12] |
| 1861 | 1,236 | incl. seven Catholics, eight Jews and one German Catholic. |
| 1900 | 1,966[13] | |
| 1925 | 2,330[14] | |
| 1939 | 2,846Johannes Hinz: Pommern. Wegweiser durch ein unvergessenes Land. Flechsig-Buchvertrieb, Würzburg 2002,, p. 211 (in German). | |
| 1978 | 3,649 | |
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland.
Łeba is twinned with:
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