Głogów ([ˈɡwɔɡuv] ⓘ; German: Glogau, rarely Groß-Glogau, Czech: Hlohov, Silesian: Głogōw) is a city in western Poland.

Due to the town's strategic location on several trade routes, the townspeople received many privileges and benefits, which brought wealth and greatly reflected on the city's architecture.

[5] The first known historic record comes from 1010, in Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicles,[6] after the troops of King Henry II of Germany in the conflict over the March of Lusatia and the Milceni lands had attacked the forces of the Polish Duke Bolesław I Chrobry and again besieged Głogów on August 9, 1017, without result.

In 1109, King Henry V of Germany, entangled in the fratricidal war between the Piast dukes Bolesław III Wrymouth and Zbigniew besieged the town, but could not overcome the Polish forces in the Battle of Głogów.

In 1157 the town finally fell to the forces of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, invading the Silesian lands in aid of Duke Władysław II the Exile and his sons.

In 1180, under the rule of Władysław's II youngest son Konrad Spindleshanks, Głogów was rebuilt and became the residence of his principality, which fell back to the Duchy of Silesia upon his death about 1190.

In 1462, Głogów hosted a convention of Kings Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland and George of Poděbrady of Bohemia at which a Bohemian-Polish alliance was concluded.

Jan's cruel measures had provoked the resistance of the Głogów citizens, and in 1488 the troops of King Matthias Corvinus appeared at the city gates and expelled the duke.

During World War II, the Germans established six forced labour camps in the town,[7] including a subcamp of the Nazi prison for youth in Wołów (in the present-day Paulinów district).

[1] After May 1945 the city and the majority of Lower Silesia fell into the Soviet Zone of Occupation who expelled its German population in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and began replacing them with Polish settlers who came to the once again Polish city of Głogów to find a seriously war-damaged town; it has not been fully rebuilt to this day.

It has since become a major world supplier of silver, which along with gold is often found in copper ore.[13] In 1974, Głogów was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of the highest Polish state decorations.