Rajec ( hu, Rajec; german: Rajetz) is a town in the
Žilina District
Žilina District ( sk, Okres Žilina) is an ''okres'' (district) of the Žilina Region in north-western Slovakia. The district was first established in 1923. Its present borders date from 1996. The heart of the district is the Váh and Rajec ri ...
,
Žilina Region in northern
Slovakia.
Etymology
Rajec, Rajčianka,
Rajčanka are derived from
Proto-Slavic appelative
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
''*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
Béla may refer to:
* Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater
* Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name
See also
* Bela (disambiguation)
* Belá (disambiguation)
* Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...
. The first mention as a town comes from 1397.
Geography
Rajec lies at an altitude of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
and covers an area of .
It is situated between
Strážovské vrchy and
Malá Fatra mountains, in the
Rajčanka river valley, around south-south-west of
Žilina.
Demographics
According to the 2001
census, the town had 6,074 inhabitants. 98.86% of inhabitants were
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...
and 0.68%
Czechs.
The religious make-up was 92.79%
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, 3.42% people with no religious affiliation and 1.89%
Lutherans.
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
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland
*
Kęty, Poland
*
Krnov, Czech Republic
*
Rýmařov, Czech Republic
References
External links
Town website
Cities and towns in Slovakia
{{Žilina-geo-stub