by the 94 country road, which was formerly part of the European route E40. This two-lane road has been renovated in recent years. However, with the completion of the A4 highway, it lost its former significance. Dębica is also connected with the cities of Mielec and Tarnobrzeg thanks to the local road number 985. Dębica lies by an important railway line stretching between the western and eastern Polish borders. It is currently undergoing an upgrade (to be completed by 2016) for the maximum train speeds of 160 km/h. As of now due to the construction work, a 111 km train journey to Kraków takes approximately 1.5 hours. Between 1988 and 1990 Dębica had been connected with Straszęcin by trolleybus line. Education Dębica has been home to two branches of higher education institutions: Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania in Rzeszów, branch in Dębica University of Economics in Kraków, branch in Dębica History Middle Ages One of the oldest documented references to this area dates back to the year 1293. It records a settlement by the name of Dambicha, belonging to the noble Gryfita family. In 1305, the village was raided by the Tatars, who burned a wooden church. The church was rebuilt in 1318, and by 1325, Dębica was the seat of a deanery, located on the outskirts of the mighty Sandomierz Forest. The Dębica Deanery consisted of fourteen parishes, among them Przecław, Sędziszów Małopolski, and Strzyżów. In 1358 King Casimir III the Great gave a local nobleman Świętosław Gryfita permission to found a town, and Dębica received town rights, together with a privilege to organize weekly markets on Wednesdays. The town, however, was not actually founded until June 10, 1372, when Mikołaj of Lipiny was named its first wójt. Dębica was conveniently located along the main merchant route from Kraków to Lwów, but the newly established town was unable to compete with older urban centers of the area, Pilzno and Ropczyce. In 1446, King Władysław III of Poland allowed annual fairs to be organized on Ash Wednesdays, which resulted in the quick development of the town. For many years however, Dębica was a small town, located in the Pilzno County, Sandomierz Voivodeship, province of Lesser Poland. Lacking a defensive wall that would defend it, it was vulnerable to invasions of the Tatars, Swedes, and Hungarians, who burnt or ransacked the town every few years. As a result of these events,