Nysa ( or Neiße) is a town in southwestern Poland on the Nysa Kłodzka river with 47,545 inhabitants (2006 official estimate), situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Nysa County. It comprises the urban portion of the surrounding Gmina Nysa, a mixed urban-rural commune with a total population of 60,123 inhabitants. It is the largest city in Poland that is not located in a strictly "urban" commune.

History

thumb|Neisse in 1561 on 1. map of Silesia by Martin Helwig of Neisse (map in reverse)
right|thumb|St. Jacob's and St. Agnes' Church in Nysa
Nysa is one of the oldest towns in Silesia. It was probably founded in the 10th century and afterwards became the capital of a principality of its name, which around 1200 became part of the Bishopric of Wrocław as the Duchy of Nysa. The town's fortifications from 1350 served to defend against the Hussites in 1424.

During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) it was besieged three times. The first Silesian War (1740-41, War of the Austrian Succession) ended Austrian sovereignty over Silesia and left the town in the hands of King Frederick II of Prussia, who laid the foundations of its modern fortifications. On 25 August 1769 Neisse was the site of a meeting between Frederick II and Emperor Joseph II, co-regent in the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Neisse was taken by the French in 1807. It retained its mostly Catholic character within the predominantly Protestant province of Silesia in the Kingdom of Prussia. Because of its many churches from the Gothic and Baroque periods the town was nicknamed "the Silesian Rome". From 1816-1911, the town was the seat of the Neisse District, after which it became an independent city.

After World War I, Neisse became part of the new Province of Upper Silesia. Conquered by the Red Army during World War II, the town was placed under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Agreement and renamed to the traditional Polish Nysa. The town's German population was largely evacuated or expelled and replaced with Poles, most of whom came from current Western Ukraine (see: Kresy).

Sports

• NKS Nysa - men's volleyball team playing in Polish Volleyball League (Polska Liga Siatkówki, PLS), 7th place in 2003/04 season.

• KŻ Nysa - sailing club with seat on Nysa's lake.

People

• Martin Helwig, cartographer

• Konrad Emil Bloch

• Bernhard Grzimek

• Emanuel Oscar Menahem Deutsch

• Emin Pasha (Eduard Schnitzer)

• Andreas Hadik

• Ewald Christian von Kleist

• Solomon Schindler

• Hans Guido Mutke

• Maria Merkert

• Roman Wójcicki

• Marta Klubowicz

• Paweł Dytko

• Piotr Gacek

Other residents

• Nicolaus Copernicus

• Christoph Scheiner

• Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff

• Karl Rudolph Friedenthal

• Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

• Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg

• Wacker von Wackenfels

• Eduard von Grützner

• Piotr Urbanski

• Isidor Barndt

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Nysa, Poland is twinned with:

• Lüdinghausen, Germany

• Jeseník, Czech Republic

• Šumperk, Czech Republic

• Kolomyia Ukraine

• Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany

• Baltiysk, Russia

• Taverny, France