Żory

Żory ('żory; Sohrau, Żory, Žáry, Žárov) is a town and city county in Silesian Voivodeship, Poland with 62,848 inhabitants (2021). Previously it was in Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in the historic Upper Silesia region about southwest of Katowice. Żory is located in Upper Silesia on the Rybnik Plateau on the Ruda River. As of 31 December 2012, the city had a population of 62,052 and an area of 64.64 km2. As of 31 December 2013, the city had 59,960 inhabitants. On 1 January 2014, the city of Żory increased its area at the expense of Rybnik by 0.26 ha. Żory borders the counties of Mikołów, Pszczyna and Rybnik, as well as the cities of Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Rybnik. As of 30 June 2016, the town had a population of 61,942. The meaning of the town's name is not clear and there are two theories about it. The first one derives it from Old Polish, from annealing, burning of forests, which was the first stage of establishing a permanent settlement in a given place. This version is related to the primitive economy of burning, which was an element of deforestation of the area for settlement. The topographic description of Upper Silesia from 1865, in turn, derives it from the Polish name of the crane bird (Polish: żuraw). It notes the following passage: "In den verscheidenen Urkunden wird Sohrau einmal Żoraw, dann Żora und auch Sora genannt. Der Name ist polnischen Ursprungs.", that is, in English, "In various documents notated as Żoraw, later Żora, and even Sora. The name is of Polish origin." In the Latin book Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis written in 1295-1305, the town is mentioned as Zary civitate - the town of Zary. The chronicle also lists villages founded under the Polish law iure polonico, which in the course of urbanization were absorbed by the town. These are the present districts or parts of the town Żory as Rogoźna in the fragment "Rogosina in una parte decima solvitur more polonico", Rowień in the fragment "Rovona [Hs. Ronoua.