Kowary [kɔˈvarɨ] (German: Schmiedeberg im Riesengebirge) is a town in Karkonosze County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, with a population of around 11,000.

The town is famed for its sanatoriums and a miniature park displaying architectural monuments of the Lower Silesian region.

The official site of the town dates the history of Kowary dates to 1148 when semi-legendary miner Laurentius Angelus mined iron ore in the location on the behalf of Polish duke Bolesław IV the Curly, ten years later on the orders of the Polish ruler a mining settlement was founded in the area,[2] the official page of the town also states that the Kowary miners took part in Battle of Legnica in 1241.

[10] In 1355 year Duke Bolko II the Small, the grandson of the Polish king Władysław I the Elbow-high, the last independent Silesian Piast, granted mining privileges to the local miners.

The main export partner was Poland, with record trade in 1558,[2] it was also famous for its gunsmiths, with Polish king Sigismund II Augustus ordering 2000 gun barrels[2] (later German publications claimed it was only 200).

In 1639 the emperor sold the town to Bohemian count Heřman of Czernin and his family kept Schmiedeberg until Prussian takeover of Silesia.

When Prussia annexed majority of Silesia in 1742, Prussian king Frederick II immediately sold the possessions to the town, which thereby became sovereign.