AUTUMN IN ZŁOTY JAR

Near the past gold mining center...

Złoty Stok is a small city located in the northern part of Góry Złote (Golden Mountains in eastern Sudetes), nearby Poland-Czech state border. In this city, well known almost from the mediaeval period, a large gold and arsenic mine existed since 1273 up to 1962. From slates, mylonites and gneisses gold and arsenic were smelted. During several centuries of mining there are created almost 300 kilometers of underground adits and galleries on 21 levels, at present mainly flooded. The total gold production in Złoty Stok amounted ca 16 tons. The past gold mine is protected now as a monument of old technique and is visted often by many tourists. Heaps of slag are remnants of this old metallurgical activity. In the past Złoty Stok was the main producer of arsenic trioxide in the world. A little southward from the city there is eroded in rocks a deep and picturesque ravine called Złoty Jar with Złoty Potok (Golden Stream) flowing through its bottom. Many pieces of slag and rocks from this area one can find in the stream. At present (October 22, 2010) rich forests composed of beeches, sycamores, mapples, pines and spruces are coloured in orange and gold.
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