the town was devastated by the Hussites (especially devastating was the attack in 1428 when Hussites robbed the town and burnt down the monastery and church of Franciscan order). In 1526, the town was incorporated by the Habsburg monarchy. In the 16th century it was one of the regional centers of Anabaptism. The town was damaged in the Thirty Years' War. In 1740, the Prussian soldiers seized the town and incorporated it into the Prussian Kingdom. In 1806 it was sacked by French troops, and in 1813 by German soldiers. Together with the rest of Prussia, the town became a part of unified Germany in 1871. During World War II the Germans established there two forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-A prisoner-of-war camp. On 9 February 1945, the German troops withdrew from the town and it subsequently became again part of Poland. The German population of the town fled or was expelled. In 1946, the adjective Śląska was added to the name after the region of Silesia within which the town is located, to distinguish it from the town of Środa Wielkopolska. During renovation works in the 1980s, a hoard of medieval silver and gold coins and jewellery, named the Środa Treasure, was found. It is now displayed in the Regional Museum in Środa Śląska and the National Museum in Wrocław. Folklore A Silesian folk story tells how the empress of Tartary travelled through Europe until she reached Środa Śląska in 1240. The citizens decided that it was appalling for a non-Christian to display so much wealth, and killed her and all of her entourage, except two of her ladies who managed to hide and flee back to Tartary. Once there, they told the Emperor what had happened to his wife, who swore revenge and gathered an army of five hundred thousand troops. According to German antiquary Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching, no tradition survives telling what the outcome was, though the timespan of the story roughly corresponds with the First Mongol invasion of Poland (1240–1241). Büsching states the story was first published in a 1504 life of Saint Hedwig of Silesia, and was later turned into a folk song. Sights Among the heritage architecture of Środa Śląska are: Gothic Saint Andrew church, dating back to the 12th century Romanesque Nativity of Mary church, a former medieval hospital church, dating back to the 13th century town hall, dating back to