The name
Złoty Stok means "golden hillside" in
Polish and is a reference to the fact that a
gold deposit was mined here in the
Middle Ages. Its Czech name is applied to the neighbouring mountain range, the
Rychleby Mountains (). The corresponding Polish name is
Góry Złote (Golden Mountains). This range is part of the eastern
Sudetes. The area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century under first historic ruler
Mieszko I of Poland of the
Piast dynasty, and after the
fragmentation of Poland it was located in the duchies of
Silesia,
Świdnica-Jawor,
Ziębice and Świdnica-Jawor again, still ruled by the Piasts, until 1392. During this period, the settlement was first mentioned and
town rights were granted. Afterwards it came under the suzerainty of the
Bohemian (Czech) Kingdom. In 1428 it was destroyed by the
Hussites. From 1469 to 1490 it was under
Hungarian suzerainty and afterwards it was under Bohemian suzerainty again. The first evidence of mining in Złoty Stok dates from the first millennium AD. In 1491, Duke
Henry I of the
Czech Podiebrad family granted the town the coat of arms, banner and the title of a "Free Mining City". Many German and Czech miners settled there. At the beginning of the 16th century the town, called
Reichenstein (literally "Richstone") by the Germans and
Rychleby by the Czechs, began to flourish thanks to the mining and working of gold. The search for this precious ore continued until the closing of the mine in the late 1960s, even though it had not fully rendered all its wealth. In 1742 the town was annexed by
Prussia.
Reichenstein, was, for many
prisoners of war, a stopping place on 'The Long March' during the final months of the
Second World War in Europe. About 30,000 Allied PoWs were force-marched westward across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany in appalling winter conditions, lasting about four months from January to April 1945. After
World War II it became part of the
Polish Recovered Territories. ==Sights==