Webcam Zlotorya. Market Square
Złotoryja is a small town in southwestern Poland, in the province of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawe River, with a population of only about 16,000. Since 1750, the town is mentioned in documents as Goldberg. From 1895 until the end of World War II, the town was called Złotogóra (Golden Mountain), and it got its present name in 1946.
From the eighth to the tenth century, these lands were inhabited by the Trzebowiane, the southern Slavs of the Czech group. At the end of the 12th century a colony of German prospectors settled on the banks of Kacava, rich in gold placers, and named their settlement Goldberg (Goldberg - gold mountain). In 1211, the Wielkopolska Prince Henry the Bearded, approved the Charter of the settlement, written on the principles of Magdeburg Law and gave it the name Zlotorya, i.e. "the place where they dig gold". It was the oldest documented fact of Magdeburg Law in Poland, which makes Złotowyja legally the oldest Polish town.
During World War II, the Germans established two sections of Stalag VIII-A camp for prisoners of war and two correctional labor camps in the town. Among the prisoners of war were mostly Poles, French and Italians. The town survived World War II almost intact. In February 1945 it was captured by the Red Army troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Ivan Konev.
According to the decisions of the Potsdam Conference, in May it was handed over to Poland and renamed by the Poles the historic Polish Zlotorya. By 1949, most of the local German residents had either fled or were expelled and forced to leave all their possessions behind by the Russian and Polish military occupation forces. Many were housed in refugee camps and resettled later, mostly in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Two important copper mines were established in the nearby villages of Wilkow and Nowy Kościół, and a large number of local engineers also participated in the development of the industrial region of Legnica. However, in the early 1970s, the mines were closed because around Lubin.
were found deposits of ore of higher quality, including a shoe factory, a spruce factory and a basalt mine factory.
С 1989, the town of Zlotorya began to search for its past. The historic old town was restored and the tradition of gold mining was initiated. In 1992 the local Polish Goldsmiths Guild was founded, which has been organizing gold panning championships ever since. World championships were held here in 2000.
Nowadays the town is one of the main tourist centers of the region. Heavy industry also plays an important role in the development of the region. Local quarries are among the most profitable in Poland, and the Christmas tree ornament factory exports millions of ornaments annually, mostly to Western Europe and the United States.
