Środa Śląska (/ˈʃroʊdə ˈʃlɒ̃skə/, Polish: [ˈɕrɔda ˈɕlɔ̃ska]; German: Neumarkt in Schlesien) is a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland.

The town lies approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław, on the Średzka Woda creek.

Środa Śląska is situated in the central part of the Lower Silesia region at the main transport routes joining the east and west of Europe.

[3] Between 1220 and 1234 a hospital was established either by Duke Henry the Bearded or Bishop of Wrocław Wawrzyniec, and by the late 13th century, there was also a parish school (at St. Andrew's Church).

During World War II the Germans established there two forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-A prisoner-of-war camp.

During renovation works in the 1980s, a hoard of medieval silver and gold coins and jewellery, named the Środa Treasure, was found.

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.

According to German antiquary Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching, no tradition survives telling what the outcome was,[13] though the timespan of the story roughly corresponds with the first Mongol invasion of Poland (1240–1241).

[14] Büsching states the story was first published in a 1504 life of Saint Hedwig of Silesia, and was later turned into a folk song.