SANDOMIERZ

town, Tarnobrzeg wojewdztwo (province), southeastern Poland. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River above the latter's confluence with the San River. First mentioned in 1097, Sandomierz gained early importance because of its geographic position astride the trade route between the Baltic and Black seas and Ruthenia. It was the 12th-century capital of the Sandomierz principality and received municipal rights in 1286. Devastated by Tatar invasions in the late 13th century, the town was rebuilt by King Casimir III the Great of Poland in the 14th. Sandomierz developed economically and became one of the largest towns in Poland in the 16th century, but in the 17th century it was ruined by the plague, fires, and prolonged wars. It passed to Austria in 1772 and was returned to Poland in 1918. The town has many old buildings, including the Romanesque Church of St. James, a 14th-century Gothic cathedral with Byzantine murals, and Opatw Gate, part of the old fortifications. The town has a modern sulfur-processing facility and glassworks and food-processing plants. Pop. (1988 est.) 22,600.