A famous tourist sight in the area is Himmelwitz Abbey, where the German Baroque composer Johannes Nucius died in 1620.

The village was first mentioned as Gemelnici in a document dated 29 November 1225 from the Duchy of Opole that granted the settlement German town law.

After the childless death of Duke John II in 1532, the duchy passed to the Bohemian crown and was later absorbed by the Habsburg Empire.

Already by January 1945 it was occupied by the Red Army, and by April 21 the new Polish administration had tentatively renamed the town Imielnica.

The commune contains the villages and settlements of Jemielnica, Barut, Bokowe, Centawa, Gąsiorowice, Łaziska, Piotrówka and Wierchlesie.