Krosno is a town with about 50 thousand inhabitants. It is situated in the southern part of the Province of Podkarpacie on the Wislok River in the area of Doly Jasielsko-Sanockie(the Jaslo and Sanok Valleys).

Krosno was first mentioned in 1282, in a document signed by Leszek Czarny (Leszek the Black), Duke of Krakow, but the earliest traces of a settlement in the site of present-day town go back further, to the 10th and 11th centuries. The town was located under the Magdeburg law by King Casimir the Great in the middle of the 14th century. The town’s fortifications were built around 1367, allowing crafts and trades to develop in safety. In 1403 - the Krosno guild of butchers is given Statutes. It is one of the oldest guild documents preserved in Poland. It allowed the founding of the guilds of bakers, tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths clothiers and fullers, so that Krosno could come to be known as a significant production centre of cloths and fustians.

In 1461 King Casimir IV (Jagiellonian) gives permission for installation in the town of a wooden water supply pipeline from the water intake on the river Lubatówka. It is one of the first municipal water supply systems in Poland. The water-main was operated until the beginning of the 19th century.
The 16th century was a period of the biggest prosperity and importance of the town. Krosno is encircled by the double fortification walls as one of few towns in Poland. The town is a strong centre of trade, especially of woollen cloth and Hungarian wine. Krosno has got about 4 thousand inhabitants at that time.

In the mid-17th century, however, Krosno began to lose its earlier importance. Natural disasters, plagues, raids by Swedish and Transylvanian troops and war requisitions all contributed to a tragic decline by the close of the 17th century.

It was only in the mid-19th century that Krosno began to recover from the decay. In 1854 in Bóbrka near Krosno, the first in the world oil field starts its production. Thanks to this, the town achieved a moderate (but steady) influx of foreign capital. In 1867 Krosno became home to the offices of the district authorities. This state of relative advancement ended with the outbreak of World War I, which caused major devastation in the town.

The interwar period saw the emergence of Krosno as a significant industrial centre. Unfortunately, further prosperity was hindered by World War II when the industry was wrecked. However, the rebuilding of the town began almost instantly after liberation in September 1944. These days, Krosno is a welcoming place to visitors, with many old historical monuments and interesting museums.