Králíky

Králíky (; Grulich) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,100 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

Villages of Červený Potok, Dolní Boříkovice, Dolní Hedeč, Dolní Lipka, Heřmanice, Horní Boříkovice, Horní Hedeč, Horní Lipka, Kopeček and Prostřední Lipka are administrative parts of Králíky.

The similarity of the town's name with the modern Czech word králík (i. e. "rabbit") is accidental. The oldest German name of the locality was derived from the personal German name Greulich, dialectally pronounced as Kralych. The Czech name was derived from this form.

Králíky is located about northeast of Ústí nad Orlicí and east of Pardubice, on the border with Poland. The Tichá Orlice river flows through the western part of the municipal territory. Králický Pond is located south of the town. Králíky lies on the border between the Hanušovice Highlands and Kłodzko Valley. The northernmost tip of the territory lies in the Králický Sněžník Mountains. The highest point is the mountain Jelení vrch with an altitude of .

The first written mention of the area is from 1367. It is a record preserved in the country's tables of law, by which Charles IV presented the castle of Žampach and the mountains belonging to it to Čeněk of Potštejn. However, this record concerns only some unspecified mines. The town was founded as late as in the 16th century and the first written mention is from 1568. In 1577, the town and ten neighbouring villages were bought by Zdeněk of Waldstein. He chose the town of Králíky as the residence of his new manor and began to develop it. Except the manor house, vicarage and Protestant oratory (today's Church of Saint Michael the Archangel), he had the square built into today's shape and on his request Emperor Rudolf II granted the town a privilege to hold three annual fairs. In the surroundings iron ore was probably mined and perhaps silver, and at that time the town was supposed to get two crossed mining hammers with a sword into its heraldry. There was an attempt to revive mining in the 17th century but it is believed to have been unsuccessful. The industry has never been restarted. The German speaking population was expelled in 1945 in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and replaced by Czechs.

There is the Dolní Lipka / Boboszów road border crossing with Poland. Králíky lies on the railway line heading from Ústí nad Orlicí to Červená Voda.

The Hora Matky Boží Monastery pilgrimage complex is formed by the monastery, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the Memorial to the Victims of Internment in 1948–1961. The monastery includes Chapel of the Holy Stairs with cloisters, a crypt, and a pilgrimage house. The way from the town to the complex is lined with Stations of the Cross. The pilgrimage complex with the church is protected as a national cultural monument. The historic centre of Králíky contains preserved burgher houses and the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel. The church was originally a late Renaissance Protestant oratory from around 1577, which was damaged by fires and rebuilt in the Baroque style in the 17th and 18th centuries. The area of Králíky and Prostřední Lipka is known for the Military Museum and many remains of Czechoslovak fortification system from 1935–1938 open to the public, including Hůrka artillery fortress or U Cihelny infantry cabin.