Złoty Stok | ||
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Coordinates: 50°26′47″N 16°52′59″E / 50.44639°N 16.88306°E | ||
Country | Poland | |
Voivodeship | Lower Silesian | |
County | Ząbkowice Śląskie | |
Gmina | Złoty Stok | |
Area | ||
• Total | 7.73 km2 (2.98 sq mi) | |
Population (2006) | ||
• Total | 2,930 | |
• Density | 380/km2 (980/sq mi) | |
Postal code | 57-250 | |
Website | http://www.zlotystok.pl |
Złoty Stok [ˈzwɔtɨ ˈstɔk] (German: Reichenstein, Czech: Rychleby) is a town in Ząbkowice Śląskie County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is situated on the border with the Czech Republic, adjoining the Czech village Bílá Voda.
The name Złoty Stok means "golden slope" in Polish and is a reference to the fact that a gold deposit was mined here in the Middle Ages.
The town is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Złoty Stok, and lies approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) south of Ząbkowice Śląskie and 77 kilometres (48 mi) south of the regional capital Wrocław. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany. (For more information about the history of the region, see Silesia.)
Złoty Stok/Riechenstein 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.
As at 2006, the town has a population of 2,930.
Its Czech name is applied to the neighbouring mountain range, the Rychleby Mountains (Czech: Rychlebské hory). The corresponding Polish name is Góry Złote (Golden Mountains). This range is part of the eastern Sudetes.