Kołobrzeg

Kołobrzeg is a port and spa city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland, with about 47,000 inhabitants (as of 2014). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast of the Baltic Sea (in the middle of the section divided by the Oder and Vistula Rivers). It is the capital of Kołobrzeg County. During the Early Middle Ages, the Pomeranian tribes established a settlement at the site of modern-day Budzistowo. In 1000, when the city was part of Poland, it became the seat of the Diocese of Kołobrzeg, one of five oldest Polish dioceses. During the High Middle Ages, the town was expanded with an additional settlement inhabited by German settlers a few kilometers north of the stronghold and chartered with Lübeck law, which settlement eventually superseded the original Pomeranian settlement. The city later joined the Hanseatic League. 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.