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![[Gorlice rural district flag]](../images/p/pl-mp_go.gif)
image by Jens Pattke, 25 Apr 2010
adopted 5 Mar 2010; design: Dr.Wojciech Drelicharz and Dr.Zenon Piech
Gorlice - rural commune, Gorlice County, Małopolskie Voivodship - Former
name (until 1954): Glinik Mariampolski.
Gmina Gorlice is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Gorlice
County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. Its seat is the
town of Gorlice, although the town is not part of the territory of the
gmina
Gmina Gorlice contains the villages and settlements of Bielanka, Bystra,
Dominikowice, Klęczany, Kobylanka, Kwiatonowice, Ropica Polska, Stróżówka,
Szymbark and Zagórzany.
Area: 103.43 sq.km (39.9 sq.mi); Population: 16,179 (2006)
Land under cultivation: 62%; Forest: 30%.
Arabian copper coins from IXth Century found there, testify to the existence
of trade routes in the area even before the Polish statehood.
Settled on the Magdeburg law during the reign of Casimir the Great,
it attracted many German settlers first and Vallachians later.
It was there, in 1853, that Ignacy Lukasiewicz with Prince Stanislaw
Jablonowski began extracting and distilling crude oil. It was the onset
of the oil industry. In 1854, the first time in the world, oil lamps lit
the streets of Gorlice, not to mention hospital operating rooms.
In 1915 the area was the site of a huge battle between Russian and
Austro-Hungarian armies.
My paternal grandfather, an officer in the Hungarian Hussarś Regiment,
was mortally wounded there, by shrapnel.
The symbols of the Gorlice Commune were adopted on March 5, 2010, on
the 20th Anniversary of the local government.
The concept of the symbols was worked out by Dr.Wojciech Drelicharz
and Dr.Zenon Piech of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and implemented
by Dr.
Barbarze Widłak, an artist from the Fine Arts Academy in Cracow.
The Arms mirror historical tradition and the heritage of the commune.
The half-lion, rising, corresponds to the proximity of the town of
Gorlice.
The golden fire being spit by the lion recalls the oil industry originated
here.
The sword, with the silver blade and golden handle, gives testimony
to the Battle of Gorlice. Alas the lion itself - king of the animal world,
in the fighting pose.
The flag is composed of three unequal, vertical bands of blue-white-blue
in the proportions of 1/4:1/2:1/4. Overall ratio is 5:8. In the center
of the white band the Arms are placed.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 30 Apr 2010
![[Gorlice coat of arms]](../images/p/pl-mp}go.gif)
image by Jens Pattke, 25 Apr 2010