Kołobrzeg (Polish: [kɔˈwɔbʐɛk] ⓘ; Kashubian: Kòlbrzég; German: Kolberg [ˈkɔlbɛʁk] ⓘ) is a port and spa city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (as of 2014[update]).

Within the Duchy of Pomerania the town was the urban center of the secular reign of the prince-bishops of Kamień and their residence throughout the High and Late Middle Ages.

Kołobrzeg, now part of post-war Poland and devastated in the preceding battle, was rebuilt, but lost its status as the regional center to the nearby city of Koszalin.

[15][16] Other important occupations were metallurgy and smithery, based on local iron ore reserves, other crafts like the production of combs from horn, and in the surrounding areas, agriculture.

[13] In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Budzistowo stronghold was the largest of several smaller ones in the Persante area, and as such is thought to have functioned as the center of the local Pomeranian subtribe.

[17] With the area coming under the control of the Polish Duke Mieszko I, only two strongholds remained and underwent an enlargement, the one at Budzistowo and a predecessor of later Białogard.

[19][20][21][22] In 1013 Bolesław Chrobry removed his troops from Pomerania in face of war with Holy Roman Emperor Henry III.

During his campaigns in the early 12th century, Bolesław III Wrymouth reacquired Pomerania for Poland, and made the local Griffin dynasty his vassals.

The stronghold was captured by the Polish army in the winter of 1107/08, when the inhabitants (cives et oppidani) including a duke (dux Pomeranorum) surrendered without resistance.

[24] The descriptions given by the contemporary chroniclers make it possible that a second, purely militarily used castle existed near the settlement, yet neither is this certain nor have archaeological efforts been able to locate traces thereof.

[18] After Bolesław's death, as a result of the fragmentation of Poland, the Duchy of Pomerania became independent,[26] before the dukes became vassals of Denmark in 1185 and the Holy Roman Empire in 1227.

[18] The settlers received several privileges such as exemption from certain taxes and several benefits, making it difficult for the indigenous Pomeranian population to compete with Germans.

[7] In 1277 St. Benedict's monastery for nuns was founded, which in the framework of the Pomeranian Reformation in 1545 was then changed into an educational institution for noble Protestant ladies.

[18] Beer, salt, honey, wool and flour were exported, while merchants imported textiles from England, southern fruits, and cod liver oil.

During Napoleon's invasion of Prussia during the War of the Fourth Coalition, the town was besieged from mid-March to 2 July 1807 by the Grande Armée and by insurgents from Poland against Prussian rule (a street named after General Antoni Paweł Sułkowski, who led Polish them, is located within the present-day city).

[18] The city's defense, led by then Lieutenant-Colonel August von Gneisenau, held out until the war was ended by the Treaty of Tilsit.

Marcin Dunin, Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno and Roman Catholic primate of Poland, was imprisoned for sedition by the Prussian authorities for ten months in 1839–1840 in the city[40] and after his release, he tried to organise a chaplaincy for the many Polish soldiers stationed in Kolberg.

[6][43][44] Dating back to 1261 Kolberg's Jewish population amounted to 528 people in 1887, rising to 580 two years later, and although many moved to Berlin after that date they numbered around 500 by the end of the Nineteenth century[45] Between 1924 and 1935, the American-German painter Lyonel Feininger, a tutor at the Staatliches Bauhaus, visited Kolberg repeatedly and painted the cathedral and environs of the town.

In the beginning of 1939, Jews were banned from attending German schools and the entire adult population had its driving licenses revoked.

[18] They also had smaller food rations than Germans, and had to wear a sign with the letter P on their clothes indicating their ethnic background.

Tremendous resources were devoted to filming this epic, even diverting tens of thousands of troops from the front lines to have them serve as extras in battle scenes.

On 10 February 1945, the German torpedo-boat T-196 brought about 300 survivors of the General von Steuben, which had been sunk by Soviet submarine S-13 to Kolberg.

Because of a lack of anti-tank weapons, German destroyers used their guns to support the defenders of Kolberg until nearly all of the soldiers and civilians had been evacuated.

[18] On 18 March, the Polish Army re-enacted Poland's Wedding to the Sea ceremony, which had been celebrated for the first time in 1920 by General Józef Haller.

[18] After World War II the region became again part of Poland, under territorial changes demanded by the Soviet Union and the Soviet-installed Polish Communist regime at the Potsdam Conference.

In 2000 the city business council of Kołobrzeg commissioned a monument called the Millennium Memorial as a commemoration of "1000 years of Christianity in Pomerania", and as a tribute to Polish-German Reconciliation, celebrating the meeting of King Bolesław I of Poland and King Otto III of Germany, at the Congress of Gniezno, in the year 1000.

[51][52] Before the end of World War II the town was predominantly German Protestant with Polish and Jewish minorities.

Around the turn from the 18th to the 19th century an increase of the number of Catholics was observed, because military personnel had been moved from West Prussia to the town.

[citation needed] Kołobrzeg today is a popular tourist destination for Poles, Germans and due to the ferry connection to Bornholm also Danish people.

[66][67] The path was breached on 24 March 2010 due to the encroachment of the sea associated with the draining of the adjacent unique Eco-Park marsh area.