The town was probably founded at the
end of 13th or the beginning of 14th century. The oldest record
concerning Świeradów, which in fact related to the tavern "Fegebeutel"
from which the local settlement of shepherds and lumbermen was named,
comes from 1337.
Exceptional properties of Świeradów
springs were suspected as early as in 16th century. In 1572, Leonard
Thurneysser writes for the first time about extraordinary discovery of
wonderful features of local water. Fryderyk Luca also wrote about them
in 1683 in Silesian chronicle. Over half a century later, owners of the
land – the Schaffgotschs family established a special commission to
gather scientific information and describe the healing effect of
Świeradów waters. The commission settled that the water “…activates
appetite, inhibits vomiting, eases anxiety states, stomach and liver
illnesses”.
The health resort started to develop
in 1768 when the owners of land built the first spa house. The peak of
health resort development occurred in the twenties of 20th century.
Direct railway connection operating since 1909 opened Świeradów to the
world and contributed to full prosperity of the resort town. When WWII
ended, the health resort resumed its activity on 26 May 1946.
From Fegebeutel to Świeradów-Zdrój
Świeradów-Zdrój has exceptionally
rich acquisition of names. This eventful history begins with the name
Fegebeutel, which meant ‘a place where your purse will be cleaned’
(Czyścisakwa in Polish). The name was given to tavern which was situated
here and nearby settlement. Then, the name was changed to Flinsberg.
The origin of that word may be sought in the pantheon of pagan gods of
Lusatians. One of them was Flins. In 1945, Bad Flinsberg becomes
Wieniec-Zdrój. It was the first name of that town in Polish language
after the war, coming from the Polish word ‘wieniec’ (wreath), related
to hills surrounding the valley from all directions. The wreath consists
of Vulture Mountain (829 m a.s.l.) in the east, Zajęcznik (595 m
a.s.l.) in the north, Stóg Izerski (1107 m a.s.l.) in the south-west and
Opaleniec (821 m a.s.l.) in the west. Finally, however, it was decided
that the town will be called Świeradów-Zdrój from 1946. The etymology of
that name is ambiguous and two explanations can be found. One
explanation says that the name derived from combination of two words:
świerk (spruce) and radon without which the spa would not exist, and the
other one mentions St. Świerad who came there from Slovakia near the
year 1000.
