Nowy Targ

Nowy Targ, the “New Market”, stands where the Black and White Dunajec meet beneath the Gorce Mountains. It became the chief town of Podhale, the highland country north of the Tatras. Casimir the Great granted it Magdeburg rights in 1346, building on an older border settlement known as Stare Cło, or “Old Customs Post”. In 1487 Casimir IV authorised two annual fairs and a weekly market. Swedish troops plundered the town in 1656; Austria annexed it in 1770.