The act of granting town rights to Podgórze, issued by Emperor Joseph II in 1785 in Vienna

The Emperor raised Podgórze, due to its location and industrial-trading conditions, to the rank of royal free town, and also granted its residents freedoms and rights. The act was written in points, with the coat of arms of the town being described in one of them. Its image, decorative and colourful, was placed on a separate sheet. The fragment prepared for transcription concerns the permanent relief from military service for both residents of Podgórze and journeymen living in the town.

The document was bound in the form of a book from a few parchment cards, covered with a red, stuffed cover. On golden, silky rope, a great imperial stamp was hung, pressed in red wax, in a wooden tin.

ANK, Collection of parchment documents, ref. no. 29/657/1106