Żary

Żary [ˈʐarɨ] (German: Sorau, Lower Sorbian: Žarow) is a town in western Poland with about 39,900 inhabitants (2006), situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship (since 1999, previously in Zielona Góra Voivodeship (1975–1998)). It is the administrative seat of the Gmina Żary, although not part of it.

Żary is located in the east of the historic Lower Lusatia region, in the borderland with the Silesian lowlands and Greater Poland, roughly outlined by the Bóbr and Oder rivers. The city is one of the biggest economic and tourist centers in the southern Lubuskie region and the largest town in the Polish part of Lusatia, therefore also referred as its unofficial capital. The city, which history dates back more than 1000 years, features many historic sites.

History

The beginnings of settlement in the Żary area date back to prehistoric times. The name “Zara”, deriving most likely from a small, independent West Slavic tribe, appeared for the first time in 1007 in the chronicles of Thietmar of Merseburg, at the time, when Duke Bolesław I Chrobry of Poland had conquered the Żary land along with the eastern March of Lusatia. Regained by Emperor Conrad II in 1031, the city was chartered on the Magdeburg law by the Wettin margrave Henry III of Meissen about 1260. It covered the following three areas: a trade settlement on the “Salt Trail” running from Leipzig to Wrocław, a fortified town erected among bogs (in the area of the later castle), and a Franciscan settlement established in 1274.