Kożuchów is a town situated in the district of Nowa Sól, in Lubusz Province. Historically speaking, it is one of the oldest towns that still exist in the region of Lower Silesia – it was first mentioned in written documents in 1273. It was thanks to granting staple rights that the town could thrive, develop and increase its significance. Kożuchów was granted its borough rights around 1291, while the right to mint its own coins was granted in the 15th Century. The town was undergoing intense development and gained a lot of wealth, until the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). In the 17th Century, following a series of wars and catastrophes, the town fell into decline. It took nearly two centuries, when the town had a chance to thrive again, which started in the 19th Century. It was severely damaged during the Second World War and in 1945 became part of the territory of Poland.
Kożuchów is referred to as a ‘town of a thousand monuments.’ It still has perfectly preserved defensive walls (20m wide), which are surrounded by a moat nearly along its entire length (1,050m). Their construction began at the end of the 13th Century. The defensive walls used to contain four city gates, namely Głogowska, Żagańska, Krośnieńska, and Szprotawska, but none of them have been preserved to this day. There is also a castle in Kożuchów, built at the end of the 13th Century and the beginning of the 14th Century, and then repaired in the 1970s and 1980s. It is now open to visitors.
Kożuchów is both a birthplace of actor Wojciech Medyński film and the location where film director Tadeusz Chmielewski shot the film ‘Gdzie jest generał…’, in 1963
