Kłodzko

Kłodzko, known to Czechs as Kladsko and Germans as Glatz, stands on the eastern Neisse in a valley among the Sudeten mountains. An old road through the passes connected Bohemia with Poland. After changing hands several times, the town returned to the Bohemian Crown in 1334 and grew as settlers arrived; a town hall followed in 1341. In 1459 the surrounding land became a county, with Kłodzko as its seat.

The Hussite Wars brought destruction to the town, and the Thirty Years' War brought further sieges, including Swedish invasions in 1631 and 1647. Its walls and houses suffered bombardment, and civic autonomy was curtailed after the conflict. Prussia acquired the county during the Silesian wars and strengthened the fortress; Austrian forces captured it in 1760, but it ultimately returned to Prussian rule.