Szlaki województw śląskiego i opolskiego

Leśnica is a town in the Strzelce district, being the seat of the Leśnica urban-rural municipality. It is located at an altitude of approx. 205 m above sea level, on the south-eastern slope of Mount St. Anne (Góra Świętej Anny). The town has nearly 2.9 thousand residents. Leśnica was first mentioned in a document by the Opole Duke Casimir I from 1217 as Lesnicie, which makes it one of the oldest towns in this part of Silesia. From this period in Leśnica comes the wooden parish church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. At the end of the 14th century, the town was surrounded by walls with three gates: Lichynia, Koźle, and Żyrowa. During the Hussite expedition to Silesia in 1429, Leśnica was burned. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was privately owned, and in the following century, self-government was established there. During World War I, 165 residents of Leśnica died, mainly men fighting in the ranks of the German army. During the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921, the town was an arena of bloody battles, in During World War II, in the area of the town, the Germans established labor camps for Jews and prisoner-of-war labor units. In January 1945, the front approached the town, which brought death to many of its civilian residents, and many buildings were destroyed. The town found itself within the borders of the Polish state after 1945.