Zlaté Hory consists of seven municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):[2] The name literally means "Golden Mountains".

In this part is also located Orlík – the highest peak of the municipal territory at 1,204 m (3,950 ft) above sea level.

The area with the gold mines was very attractive and in the 13th century the Přemyslid dukes and the bishops of Wrocław competed for it.

[5] Until the mid-15th century, the town was ruled the Opavian dukes except for the period between 1361 and 1367, when it was owned by King John of Bohemia.

In 1440, Zlaté Hory was bought by Bolko V the Hussite, who had repaired the Edelštejn Castle and granted the town Magdeburg rights.

Two years later, Edelštejn Castle was attacked and destroyed by Jošt of Rožmberk and after the conclusion of the agreement, Zlaté Hory passed under the rule of the bishops of Wrocław for the following centuries.

In the second half of the 17th century, the town was at the centre of the infamous Northern Moravia witch trials, during which 54 women were burned.

During World War II, the German occupiers operated four forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town.

[7] On 29 January 1945, German SS soldiers were conducting a death march in the area and murdered 138 prisoners on a road from Konradów.

[12] In 2019, a geological survey was launched to find out how much gold is still in the deposits and whether reserves of other metals such as copper, zinc and lead are present.

Houses in the centre usually have an older Renaissance or Baroque core with an Empire reconstruction of the façade from the early 19th century.

Today it houses the Town Museum, focused on the mining tradition of the area and the 17th-century witch trials.