Wołów

Infobox Settlement
name = Wołów


image_caption = Town hall in Wołów
image_shield = POL Wołów COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Lower Silesian
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Wołów County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Gmina Wołów
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Witold Krochmal
established_title = City charter
established_date = around 1285
area_total_km2 = 18.54
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 12286
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 51 | latm = 20 | lats = 29 | latNS = N | longd = 16 | longm = 37 | longs = 42 | longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 56-100
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = DWL
website = http://www.wolow.pl

Wołów [IPA-pl|'|w|o|ł|u|f] ( _de. Wohlau) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Wołów County, and of the smaller administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Wołów. It lies approximately convert|38|km|mi|0 north-west of the regional capital Wrocław. As at 2006, the town has a population of 12,286.

History

First mentioned in 1157, Wołów received its town charter about 1285. The town's name is probably derived from the Polish word "wół" ("ox"). In the Middle Ages the town had various overlords, passing for a time under the suzerainty of Bohemia. The oldest known seal of the town dates from 1473 and already shows an ox, as do all later seals. Until 1675 Wołów was a residence of the Silesian Piast dukes of Legnica-Brzeg-Wołów. In German the duchy was known as Fürstentum Wohlau or Principality of Wohlau. In 1742 it was annexed by Prussia.

For centuries the nearby Cistercian abbey of Lubiąż was a cultural centre of Lower Silesia. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09204a.htm Leubus] , "Catholic Encyclopedia"] In January 1945 – just before town was taken by the Red Army – the Wehrmacht evacuated the German population westwards. Already in May 1945 the first Poles – expelled by the Soviets from the eastern part of pre-war Poland – started to settle in Wołów and Lower Silesia.

References

External links

* [http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/200e/34-51.jpgWohlau (Wołów) and Polnischdorf (Polska Wieś) on an Austro-Hungarian military map (1:200 000) from c.1910]