The history of Skawina as a town dates back to the 22nd of May 1364, when King Casimir the Great granted it the town charter based on Magdeburg law. Earlier the area was the property of the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec. The town was set up here for many reasons: the proximity to the south-western border of the country and the need to defend Kraków against invasions of Czechs, Dukes of Zator and Oświęcim, and to protect salt merchants on the way from Silesia and those who drove cattle from the Ukraine. Another argument for the town being founded here was the existence of the customs house set up as early as the 13th century and the locality’s rapid economic development.
In 1394, Benedictines sold the office of Skawina Village Head to Michał Pusznik, and from that time the town has been administered by secular authorities.
Skawina developed rapidly. Major trade routes crossed the town and various crafts flourished. In the times of King Casimir the Jagiellon (Kazimierz Jagiellończyk), bakers, shoemakers, butchers, tailors, tanners, weavers, malt makers and brewers began to regularly sell their products on the market every Thursday. King Sigismund the Old (Zygmunt Stary) awarded them the right of three major fairs a year. Skawina was the birthplace of many Kraków Academy professors and Royal Court dignitaries.
In the years 1651-1652 a plague struck the town. A half of the local population died during two years, which stopped the development. Soon after that, during the Swedish invasion in 1655, a bloody battle was fought near Skawina. The town was destroyed and many residents lost their lives. To make matters worse, Russians battered the town which supported Bar Confederates. Skawina was almost completely burnt. There is also a brighter side of the old times – it is believed that King Jan IIII Sobieski’s had an army parade on the Main Square in Skawina, before he set off for Vienna.
During the period of Poland’s partitions, Skawina was under Austrian rule. New opportunities opened to Skawina when a railway line was built here in 1884. This promoted the town’s industrial development: the brewery, the refinery, Henryk Franck Sons Coffee Factory, Stoneware and Chamotte Factory opened here. Various institutions also sprang up, like the Sokół Gymnastic Society which was offered a place in the palace that replaced the older castle from Casimir’s era.
The Second World War caused major destruction and substantial human losses. The 1950s opened a new chapter in the town’s history – industrialisation. In 1954 the construction of the Aluminium Smelter was completed; in 1959 the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals opened, while in 1962 the Skawina Power Plant and the Construction Elements Plant started operation. The town developed, its population grew, new educational, cultural and sports establishments were set up.
Present-day Skawina has a population of 30,000. Some residents work in Kraków, while others find jobs in new companies which constantly spring up in the town.
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