Legnica, city in southwestern Poland, capital of Legnica Province. Legnica is located on the Kaczawa River in the historic region of Silesia. It is the transportation and industrial center of a copper-mining area, with a copper-processing plant located in the city. Other industries manufacture machinery, silverware, clothing, chemicals, food products, and musical instruments. The highway between Wroclaw and Berlin, Germany, passes through Legnica. The city is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric. Several historic attractions survived destruction during World War II (1939-1945), including a medieval castle, a Baroque town hall, and three Roman Catholic churches originally built in the Gothic style of the 13th and 14th centuries. A former palace of the Polish dukes of the Piast dynasty now houses the city's copper museum. Also of interest is the nearby village of Legnickie Pole, where in 1241 an invading Tatar army under Batu Khan defeated Polish forces. The Golden Horde did not manage to seize Legnica, however.
Chartered in 1252, Legnica was the capital of a Polish duchy of the Piast dynasty until 1675, when it passed to the Habsburg dynasty. Legnica was acquired by Prussia in 1742. Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) defeated the Austrians here in a battle in 1760. Legnica, then known as Liegnitz, remained under German control until World War II. It suffered extensive damage toward the end of the war, when it was taken by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Postwar agreements returned Legnica to Poland in 1945. Population (1997 estimate) 108,500.
