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Wołów [ˈvɔwuf] (German: 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 38 kilometres (24 mi) north-west of the regional capital Wrocław. As at 2006, the town has a population of 12,286.
[edit] 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.[1] 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.
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Coordinates: 51°20′29″N 16°37′42″E / 51.34139, 16.62833
Poland
