Środa Śląska

Środa Śląska lies west of Wrocław in the fertile Silesian countryside. Its name recalls the weekly Wednesday market, and its distinctive town law, adapted from Magdeburg law in the thirteenth century, became a model for many other towns. Crafts and commerce included the salt trade, weaving, brewing and, from the fifteenth century, wine production.

Hussite attacks devastated the town in 1428–1431. It later came under Habsburg rule and suffered damage during the Thirty Years' War. Prussian forces occupied it in 1740, placing it within a new political framework while its markets continued to serve the surrounding district.