Rajec ( hu, Rajec; german: Rajetz) is a town in the Žilina District,

Žilina Region The Žilina Region ( sk, Žilinský kraj; pl, Kraj żyliński; hu, Zsolnai kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region ...

in northern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Etymology

Rajec, Rajčianka, Rajčanka are derived from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...

appelative ''*rajь'' – a wet, muddy place (modern Slovak ''raj'' – a paradise, "a place with rich vegetation").

History

The first written record about Rajec was in 1193 as ''Raich'', in a document issued by King Béla III. The first mention as a town comes from 1397.

Geography

Rajec lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of . It is situated between Strážovské vrchy and

Malá Fatra Malá Fatra (; also Little Fatra or Lesser Fatra, pl, Mała Fatra, hu, Kis-Fátra) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.Craig ...

mountains, in the Rajčanka river valley, around south-south-west of

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, the town had 6,074 inhabitants. 98.86% of inhabitants were Slovaks and 0.68%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, ...

. The religious make-up was 92.79% Roman Catholics, 3.42% people with no religious affiliation and 1.89%

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

Sightseeings

* Town Hall, renaissance one-floor building available from all sides. Open arcades served like market. On the second floor, there were administrative rooms of town council. After the newest reconstruction in 1992, the arcades are full glassed and the town hall serve as wedding, concert and exhibition room.
3D Model
* Town museum, former brewery residence

Twin towns — sister cities

Rajec is twinned with: *

Czechowice-Dziedzice Czechowice-Dziedzice (, szl, Czechowice-Dziydzice), previously known until 1958 as Czechowice, is a town in Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 35,684 inhabitants as of December 2021. It lies on the northeastern edge of t ...

, Poland *

Kęty Kęty is a town in Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland with 18,955 inhabitants (2012). The town located in Silesian Foothills dates its earliest document from 1277 when Polish prince of Opole Władysław Opolski, Władysław c ...

, Poland *

Krnov Krnov (; german: Jägerndorf, pl, Karniów or ''Krnów'') is a town in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts The town is made up of town parts of Pod Bezr ...

, Czech Republic * Rýmařov, Czech Republic

References

External links

Town website
Cities and towns in Slovakia {{Žilina-geo-stub